ArticlePharmacy (Basel, Switzerland)2022
Impact of Illegible Prescriptions on Dispensing Practice: A Pilot Study of South African Pharmacy Personnel.
Article in Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Community pharmacists' views on the implementation of a national electronic prescription transfer system to pharmacies: A cross-sectional survey.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2026Article
- Prescription writing pattern among the dental practitioners of a tertiary care hospital in Karachi.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Critical Care Nurses' Perception of Medication Administration Errors in Kelantan, Malaysia: A Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of nursing management · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Illegible prescriptions are an illegal, frequent, and longstanding problem for pharmacy personnel engaged in dispensing. These contribute to patient safety issues and negatively impact safe dispensing in pharmaceutical delivery. To date, little is documented on measures taken to assess the negative impact posed by illegible prescriptions on South African pharmacy dispensing personnel. Therefore, this pilot study was performed to evaluate the ability of pharmacy personnel to read and interpret illegible prescriptions correctly; and to report on their perceived challenges, views and concerns when presented with an illegible prescription to dispense. A cross-sectional, three-tiered self-administered survey was conducted among pharmacy personnel. A total of 885 measurements were recorded. The ability to read an illegible prescription is not an indicator of competency, as all (100%) participants (novice and experienced) made errors and experienced difficulty evaluating and deciphering the illegible prescription. The medication names and dosages were correctly identified by only 20% and 18% of all participants. The use of digital prescriptions was indicated by 70% of the participants as a probable solution to the problem. Overall, improving the quality of written prescriptions and instructions can potentially assist dispensing pharmacy personnel in reducing illegible prescription-related patient safety issues and dispensing errors.
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Registered trials
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