Farmacia hospitalaria : órgano oficial de expresión científica de la Sociedad Española de Farmacia Hospitalaria
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To describe the implementation of a unitary dose drug dispensation system (UDDDS) with computerized medical orders in an intensive care unit (ICU) including 10 multi-purpose offices, and to obtain a medication error index as an indicator of the process quality. ⋯ Computerized medical orders favored compliance with consensus protocols defined in software programs at the pharmacy department, even though the degree of adhesion degree was not quantitized. They also allowed a validation of all medical prescriptions by a pharmacist before dispensation. The total number of errors detected during the study period was 86. Error opportunities were 26,695, and the overall error index was 0.32%. During the study an error occurred every 312.5 error opportunities.