"Enhancing Patient Safety in a Tertiary Care Hospital Through Continuous Quality Improvement: Reducing Discharge Medication Errors Across All Wards"

To enhance patient healthcare by implementing a consistent daily discharge prescription audit, integrating quality improvement initiatives led by clinical pharmacists in clinical areas, and ensuring regular monitoring. Over a 15-month period, a clinical pharmacist conducted daily reviews of discharge medication order sheets across all wards on a random basis. Upon detecting an error, immediate intervention was carried out during the audit, and the error was reported to the respective department head and medical administration. This facilitated targeted training for the concerned staff to prevent recurrence and improve overall medication safety. The Quality Improvement Project was implemented from July 2023 to September 2024. Analysis of defined parameters identified key root causes of discharge medication errors, including incorrect drug orders, omitted prescriptions, incorrect dosage strength, incorrect frequency, and therapeutic duplication. As a result of the intervention, discharge prescription errors were reduced from 13% to 1.82%. This quality improvement project across all wards has facilitated the early detection of discharge prescription errors, leading to continuous improvements in prescribing practices. Consequently, it has contributed to enhancing patient safety throughout the treatment process.