Canadian community pharmacists intervening to circumvent drug-related harm

Canadian pharmacy researchers have examined “quality-related events” – defined as medication errors that reach the patient (e.g., incorrect drug, dose and quantity), AND medication errors that are intercepted before dispensing (i.e., near misses). The huge study quantified and characterized these events, reported by community pharmacies in Canada between Oct. 1, 2010, and June 30, 2017. There were 131 031 events reported by community pharmacies in study site (the province of Nova Scotia) over the study period, 98 097 of which were quality-related events. Overall, 82.0% (n = 80 488) quality-related events did not reach the patient, and only 0.95% (n = 928) were associated with patient harm. Incorrect dose or frequency, incorrect quantity and incorrect drug were the most common types of quality-related events reported. Most of the quality-related events occurred at order entry, followed by preparation and dispensing, and prescribing.