Investigating Medication Errors in Ajman Pharmacies: A Cross-Sectional Study in the United Arab Emirates

Background: Reporting medication mistakes is regarded as an essential aspect in reducing harmful effects. Previous research concentrated on secondary care and hospital inpatient settings, with few studies focusing on outpatient treatment. This study examined pharmacists' opinions regarding prescription mistakes in hospital and community settings. The study aimed to analyse views about reporting prescription error as well as to determine the incidence of medication errors by identifying the types of medication errors that occur most frequently in pharmacies. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a validated self-administered survey and quantitative analysis. Pharmacists from the UAE's emirate of Ajman were among the participants. A total of 240 replies were received from both community and hospital settings. The results were analysed with SPSS version 24. Results: Out-patient hospital pharmacists were found to be more likely to try to remedy medication errors without reporting the incident (42.59%). The most prevalent types of drug mistakes were omission, administration, prescribing/ordering, dosage, and dispensing errors (32.50%, 29.17%, 16.25%, 16.25%, and 5.83% respectively). Some respondents (38.8%) claimed that a heavy workload and extended working shifts are among the causes contributing to prescription mistakes. Conclusion: Long working hours were identified as the most major source of mistake among pharmacists. Many pharmacists tend to examine the patient's data and health status before prescribing medicine, which is a positive attitude that contributes to minimizing the occurrence of medication mistakes.