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Fat Emulsions, Intravenous

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Despite electronic prescribing, medication errors are still occurring in hospitals. The pharmaceutical analysis of electronic prescriptions, also called « validation », is expected to improve and secure the use of medicines. Objective: This study analyses the performance of the pharmaceutical validation of the electronic prescriptions using a checklist defining of the minimum criteria to analyze per prescription. Methods: On the basis of literature, legislation, observations and focus groups, a checklist that includes the minimum criteria for a valid electronic prescription was developed and validated by a Delphi method. A prospective multicenter study (3 hospitals) compared the performance of pharmaceutical validation five days before and five days after introduction of this checklist. Comparison was made on pertinence (rate of acceptance of the interventions made by the pharmacist to correct medication errors), efficacy (number of patients having interventions), efficiency (acceptance of interventions compared to lime spent for validation) and productivity (number of patients having interventions compared to lime spent for validation). In addition, users' satisfaction about the checklist was evaluated. Results After two rounds of the Delphi method, a validated checklist has been written out. Eleven pharmacists participated in the study. Pertinence, efficacy, efficiency and productivity did not improve significantly due to the use of the checklist (respective p-values= 0,072, 0,717, 1,000 and 0,788). However, the eleven pharmacists are globally satisfied with this checklist. Conclusion: A standardized checklist is an interesting strategy to homogenize the pharmaceutical validation of the electronic prescriptions but not sufficient to improve the performance of the validation. It should be further investigated alongside other strategies. The ultimate objective of pharmaceutical validation of prescriptions is to improve the quality of care of hospitalized patients.

Checklist --- Electronic Prescribing --- Pharmacy Service, Hospital