BACKGROUND: A medical order is a medical and legal document; careful writing of this document enables the reduction of many therapeutic errors. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of order writing in Tunisian primary healthcare centres. METHODS: This was a transversal descriptive survey of 2586 medical orders. The quality of the writing was assessed using two parameters: its legibility and the information delivered in it. RESULTS: Among the main results, 36% of orders contained at least 50% of the items retained, 25% of orders were completely illegible, and the quality of writing was considered good in 14% of cases. DISCUSSION: The study showed that hand-written orders in primary healthcare are far from complying with the medico-legal requirements. The teaching of order-writing technique and its computerisation are needed to improve the quality of medical prescribing.
BACKGROUND: A medical order is a medical and legal document; careful writing of this document enables the reduction of many therapeutic errors. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of order writing in Tunisian primary healthcare centres. METHODS: This was a transversal descriptive survey of 2586 medical orders. The quality of the writing was assessed using two parameters: its legibility and the information delivered in it. RESULTS: Among the main results, 36% of orders contained at least 50% of the items retained, 25% of orders were completely illegible, and the quality of writing was considered good in 14% of cases. DISCUSSION: The study showed that hand-written orders in primary healthcare are far from complying with the medico-legal requirements. The teaching of order-writing technique and its computerisation are needed to improve the quality of medical prescribing.