reporting of dispensing errors and fear of litigation

[Raoul]

"The fear of being nabbed by the society really effects some of my friends. One of my mates just believes it's going to happen to him one day, even though he's a good pharmacist. I know another guy who has I'd guess an OCD way about him, checking everything about three times as he's so afraid of doing an error. It's a shame when a job gets you so stressed out like this one does."

jesus christ, you guys are patrifying me. one of the locums i met told me' a little bit of stress is imp to make you focus while checking'. another locum was like" oh i can not wait to get out of this career as i know it if i am unlucky, a serious dispensing error might get be off the market".

[Web Ferret]

Originally Posted by Ray

"The fear of being nabbed by the society really effects some of my friends. One of my mates just believes it's going to happen to him one day, even though he's a good pharmacist. I know another guy who has I'd guess an OCD way about him, checking everything about three times as he's so afraid of doing an error. It's a shame when a job gets you so stressed out like this one does."

jesus christ, you guys are patrifying me. one of the locums i met told me' a little bit of stress is imp to make you focus while checking'. another locum was like" oh i can not wait to get out of this career as i know it if i am unlucky, a serious dispensing error might get be off the market".

Get some PDA insurance.
As my solicitor once told me "if you choose a career that involves you giving poisons out all day, when something goes wrong it goes very wrong"

If you work full time in pharmacy for a career something bad will happen one day.

Its society - Look at the maintenance engineer who is being tried for manslaughter after the Paris concord disaster - He fixed something on the plane that later fell off and was deemed to cause the crash!
The designer is also up for manslaughter for designing the bit that fell off.

The society have a 2 year backlog of pharmacists to put through the mill according the the PDA news.

[DavidS]

Originally Posted by Web Ferret

The society have a 2 year backlog of pharmacists to put through the mill according the the PDA news.

This connects with the stuff about "ethical passivity" -- IMHO, that's all tosh. What these people are saying is that the fear of prosecution etc is more important to us than the interests of the patient.

Let me tell you in no uncertain terms that being at the wrong end of a disciplinary process or a criminal investigation is quite capable of affecting one's work, to the degree that it would impact on patient safety. And it matters not if its major or minor, or - as in my case - doesn't even get heard its so trivial. During the period of uncertainty, the psyche is destabilised, the mind is otherwise occupied. I have worked with many people in this position over the years, and it occupies their minds and their conversations, and changes their world views.

So-called "ethical passivity" is revealed as a way to protect patients just as much as looking after one's physical and mental health in any other way.

Take the threats away and then see what happens.

[PinkGlitter]

A locum dispensed and checked MST on my day off. Should have been 10mg, dispensed 60mg. All bagged up in CD cupboard. I gave it out, didn't check inside bag. Discovered error whilst doing routine CD stock check. Contacted patient, amazingly she was fine, she realised error and had been cutting them in half! :$ Got the 60mg's back, gave her the 10mg which she should've had. Contacted GP, they were ok about it as patient had come to no harm.

Reported error to head office, do you think I need to do any more? (Bearing in mind I don't want to get struck off!) I've corrected balance in CD register by putting footnote explaining discrepancy. RPSGB CD fact sheet says no need to contact CD accountable officer if incident is resolved (which it is). Advice anyone?

[Web Ferret]

Originally Posted by PinkGlitter

A locum dispensed and checked MST on my day off. Should have been 10mg, dispensed 60mg. All bagged up in CD cupboard. I gave it out, didn't check inside bag. Discovered error whilst doing routine CD stock check. Contacted patient, amazingly she was fine, she realised error and had been cutting them in half! :$ Got the 60mg's back, gave her the 10mg which she should've had. Contacted GP, they were ok about it as patient had come to no harm.

Reported error to head office, do you think I need to do any more? (Bearing in mind I don't want to get struck off!) I've corrected balance in CD register by putting footnote explaining discrepancy. RPSGB CD fact sheet says no need to contact CD accountable officer if incident is resolved (which it is). Advice anyone?

CDs are a hot potato following the Shipman enquiry.
Ring the PDA straight away - You are a member aren't you?

[PinkGlitter]

Originally Posted by Web Ferret

CDs are a hot potato following the Shipman enquiry.
Ring the PDA straight away - You are a member aren't you?

No, not at the moment, seriously considering it though. Just have company cover. I asked my regional pharmacy manager (who is a pharmacist) and he agreed that I didn't need to take it further. Just not 100% sure. If it wasn't for the running balance then no-one would even find out. It's not like I have ever had anyone inspect the register ever. I've got expired CD's waiting for destruction from about 3 years ago and the register only needs to be kept for 2 years isn't it? Not sure if it's changed with all the new regulations?

[Web Ferret]

I think that you'll "get away" with this one. If you have reported it via your company channels, done all that is reasonable then put it down to experience.

Your comnay insurers are there to protect the company FIRST and you SECOND. Your company SOP will tell you to check everything. If there is an error then the company is in the clear, its you who didn't follow the SOP and check properly.

[Fleegle]

Do you have a (correctly-dated) script to cover the supply of the 60mg MST tablets?

[lamzee]

Fleegle - There's no Irish PDA equivalent yet for locums is there? (I'm trying to do a bit of forward planning for my big move in the spring)

[lamzee]

Originally Posted by Raoul

one of the locums i met told me' a little bit of stress is imp to make you focus while checking'. another locum was like" oh i can not wait to get out of this career as i know it if i am unlucky, a serious dispensing error might get be off the market".

The main errors that I find scary are the ones where the assistant bags the rx and puts the wrong name and address label on it (solution--bag it yourself and attach rx to bag) and the one where they hand the wrong rx to the wrong person . IE errors after the dispensing process, rather than during it.