Assessing the impact of an educational program on decreasing prescribing errors at a university hospital.

BACKGROUND: Several complex and costly interventions reduce medication errors. Little exists on the effectiveness of providing education and feedback to institutional clinicians as a means of reducing errors.
OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact on prescribing errors of a pharmacist-led educational intervention.
DESIGN: Prospective, interrupted time series study.
SETTING: This study was conducted among internal medicine residents at the 320-bed University of Toledo Medical Center. INTERVENTION: The educational intervention was conducted during a 6-month period beginning in November 2006. The intervention included an initial hour-long lecture followed by biweekly and then monthly discussions that used timely, institution-specific examples of prescribing errors. MEASUREMENTS: Data were collected at 5 time points: month 0 (preintervention period); months 1, 3, and 6 (intervention period); and month 7 (postintervention period). Errors were identified, transcribed, coded, and entered into a database. The primary outcome was the frequency of prescribing errors during each period. A Bonferroni-adjusted chi-square analysis was conducted with an a priori experiment-wise alpha of 0.05.
RESULTS: A reduction in prescribing errors of 33% following the first intervention month and a mean 26% reduction during the study period were observed (P<0.0025). The frequencies of preintervention and postintervention errors did not differ significantly.
CONCLUSIONS: A straightforward educational intervention reduced prescribing errors during the period of active intervention, but this effect was not sustained. Ongoing communication and education about institution-specific medication errors appear warranted.