ArticleBMC primary care2024
Trends in dispensing errors reported in Finnish community pharmacies in 2015-2020: a national retrospective register-based study.
Article in BMC primary care, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Factors contributing to medication safety incidents observed by community pharmacists - a content analysis of incident reports.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2026Article
- Diffusion of innovations of digital and remote services in Finnish community pharmacies during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic: A National Survey.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2026Article
- Engaging Community Pharmacies in Promoting Outpatient Medication Safety - Identifying and Prioritizing Research Needs by Modified Nominal Group Technique.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2025Article
- Community Pharmacy Dispensing Errors: A Comprehensive Systematic Review on Trends and Solutions.Journal of research in pharmacy practiceReview
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4 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundCommunity pharmacies are responsible for dispensing of medicines and related counselling in outpatient care. Dispensing practices have remarkably changed over time, but little is known about how the changes have influenced medication safety. This national study investigated trends in dispensing errors (DEs) related to prescribed medicines, which were reported in Finnish community pharmacies within a 6-year period.
methodsThis national retrospective register study included all DEs reported to a nationally coordinated voluntary DE reporting system by Finnish community pharmacies during 2015-2020. DE rates, DE types, prescription types, individuals who detected DEs and contributing factors to DEs were quantified as frequencies and percentages. Poisson regression was used to assess the statistical significance of the changes in annual DE rates by type.
resultsDuring the study period, altogether 19 550 DEs were reported, and the annual number of error reports showed a decreasing trend (n = 3 913 in 2015 vs. n = 2 117 in 2020, RR 0.54, p < 0.001). The greatest decrease in reported DEs occurred in 2019 after the national implementation of the Medicines Verification System (MVS) and the additional safety feature integrated into the MVS process. The most common error type was wrong dispensed strength (50% of all DEs), followed by wrong quantity or pack size (13%). The annual number of almost all DE types decreased, of which wrong strength errors decreased the most (n = 2121 in 2015 vs. n = 926 in 2020). Throughout the study period, DEs were most commonly detected by patients (50% of all DEs) and pharmacy personnel (30%). The most reported contributing factors were factors related to employees (36% of all DEs), similar packaging (26%) and similar names (21%) of medicinal products.
conclusionsAn overall decreasing trend was identified in the reported DEs and almost all DE types. These changes seem to be associated with digitalisation and new technologies implemented in the dispensing process in Finnish community pharmacies, particularly, the implementation of the MVS and the safety feature integrated into the MVS process. The role of patients and pharmacy personnel in detecting DEs has remained central regardless of changes in dispensing practices.
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