Abstract

Introduction: Poor drug history documentation on admission may lead to medication errors; a leading cause of avoidable harm.

Aims: To assess the quality of drug histories in the notes of patients admitted to an emergency assessment unit and impact of interventions to improve documentation.

Methods: Data were collected on the accuracy of documentation in 281 drug histories including errors of omission, frequency and dose.

Results: The mean error rate was high at more than five per drug history. Omitted drugs included warfarin and long-term steroids, the consequences of which were potentially serious. Clerking prompts and education alone did not improve errors significantly.

Conclusion: The error rate in drug histories is unacceptably high. More research is needed to explore factors involved in such documentation errors.

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