Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences

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RISK MANAGEMENT IN PREVENTING MEDICATION ERRORS IN A COMMUNITY PHARMACY

ANA-MARIA OLTEAN, OFELIA CRIŞAN *

Department of Pharmaceutical Legislation and Management, Faculty of Pharmacy, “Iuliu Haţieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj-Napoca, 12 Ion Creangă Street, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

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The aim of this paper was to create a model for a risk management plan for preventing the medication errors in a community pharmacy. Our objectives were to present useful tools for the community pharmacists to manage such errors and a practical example of identifying risk minimisation strategies. Following the brainstorming method, the most important medication errors were identified. Using the affinity diagram, they were grouped into prescribing, dispensing and administration errors. Within the prioritization matrix, these errors were classified using as criteria: patient safety, relevance for pharmacists, human resources needed and the cost of implementing a risk minimisation strategy. The medication errors were classified based on the final score and risk management strategies were proposed for each of them. The risk management plan is essential in preventing medication errors and can be an important part in the policy of quality assurance in a community pharmacy activity.