ArticleBritish journal of clinical pharmacology2014
Exploring the causes of junior doctors' prescribing mistakes: a qualitative study.
Article in British journal of clinical pharmacology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Mapping the prevalence and nature of drug related problems among hospitalised children in the United Kingdom: a systematic review.BMC pediatrics · 2019Pooled it
- Do final-year medical students have sufficient prescribing competencies? A systematic literature review.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2018Pooled it
- Factors Affecting Prescriber Implementation of Computer-Generated Medication Recommendations in the SENATOR Trial: A Qualitative Study.Drugs & aging · 2020Trial
- E-learning in order to improve drug prescription for hospitalized older patients: a cluster-randomized controlled study.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2016Trial
- Factors contributing to electronic prescribing errors in healthcare settings: a qualitative study.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2026Article
- Antibiotic prescribing patterns for management of acute diarrheal diseases at a university teaching hospital in Central Ethiopia.Journal of pharmaceutical health care and sciences · 2026Article
- Prepared on Paper, Unprepared in Practice: The Transition From Medical Student to Resident Doctor.Cureus · 2026Article
- Prescription Errors in a Mental Healthcare Facility: A Content Analysis of Brief Interviews.Acta medica Philippina · 2026Article
- Simulated virtual on-call training programme for improving non-specialised junior doctors' confidence in out-of-hours psychiatry: quantitative assessment.BJPsych bulletin · 2023Article
- Prescribing errors in a Brazilian teaching hospital: Causes and underlying factors from the perspective of junior doctors.PloS one · 2023Article
- How would final-year medical students perform if their skill-based prescription assessment was real life?British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2022Article
- Physicians' use of and preferences for FDA-approved prescribing information.Research in social & administrative pharmacy : RSAP · 2022Article
- Better performance of medical students on pharmacotherapy knowledge and skills tests is associated with practising with e-learning program P-scribe.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2022Article
- A qualitative study of prescribing errors among multi-professional prescribers within an e-prescribing system.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2021Article
- Associations of physicians' prescribing experience, work hours, and workload with prescription errors.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2021Article
- Prescribing Patterns for Upper Respiratory Tract Infections: A Prescription-Review of Primary Care Practice in Quetta, Pakistan and the Implications.Frontiers in public health · 2021Article
- Article
- Pharmacist-led, video-stimulated feedback to reduce prescribing errors in doctors-in-training: A mixed methods evaluation.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2019Article
- Exploring the experiences and opinions of hospital pharmacists working 24/7 shifts.European journal of hospital pharmacy : science and practice · 2019Article
- Prescribing errors by junior doctors- A comparison of errors with high risk medicines and non-high risk medicines.PloS one · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimsPrescribing errors are common and can be detrimental to patient care and costly. Junior doctors are more likely than consultants to make a prescribing error, yet there is only limited research into the causes of errors. The aim of this study was to explore the causes of prescribing mistakes made by doctors in their first year post graduation.
methodsAs part of the EQUIP study, interviews using the critical incident technique were carried out with 30 newly qualified doctors. Participants were asked to discuss in detail any prescribing errors they had made. Participants were purposely sampled across a range of medical schools (18) and hospitals (15). A constant comparison approach was taken to analysis and Reason's model of accident causation was used to present the data.
resultsMore than half the errors discussed were prescribing mistakes (errors due to the correct execution of an incorrect plan). Knowledge-based mistakes (KBMs) appeared to arise from poor knowledge of practical aspects of prescribing such as dosing, whereas rule-based mistakes (RBMs) resulted from inappropriate application of knowledge. Multiple error-producing and latent conditions were described by participants for RBMs and KBMs. Poor/absent senior support and a fear of appearing incompetent occurred with KBMs. Following erroneous routines or seniors' orders were major contributory factors in RBMs.
conclusionsAlthough individual factors such as knowledge and expertise played a role in prescribing mistakes, there were many perceived interrelated factors contributing to error. We conclude that multiple interventions are necessary to address these and further research is essential.
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