I recently had a good discussion with a pharmacy auditor about the recording of Near Misses in the dispensary.

No doubt I believe every pharmacy struggle to grasp the concept of Near Misses.  Is picking up an error during normal double checking procedure count as a Near Miss incident?

On our thorough discussion with the pharmacy auditor, we’ve concluded a Near Miss incident as:

  • When you have actually signed off on the prescription or
  • When you personally feel you have finished checking the prescription and continue with another task

During this time, somehow you have found the dispensing mistake(s) (before the patient leave the pharmacy with their prescriptions) – this is a Near Miss Incident.

Near misses incident should be recorded in either a paper form  or electronic form, and these incidents should be reviewed on a regular basis with dispensary team (as a memo) to satisfy Pharmacy Audit requirement.