Background: Discrepancies in patient’s medication list can lead to medication errors which is a major cause of both morbidity and mortality today. The aim of the study was to examine the frequency of discrepancies in the Swedish prescription list “My saved prescriptions” regarding noncurrent treatment, incorrect dosages, double prescriptions, and missing prescriptions. Additionally, the purpose was to examine the type of source of information the patients used regarding their drug treatment.   Methods: Collection of data was conducted through interviews at three different pharmacies over a period of four weeks in Stockholm 2020. Patients 18 years or older with at least three prescribed drugs were asked to participate in the study.   Results: Of 157 patients, 74 patients were included. More than 70% of the patients had one or more discrepancies in their prescription list: a noncurrent, a duplicate or an incorrect dosage. 17.6% had at least one missing prescription. About half of the patients had a noncurrent prescription, which was the most common discrepancy among the patients. More than a third, 35.1%, of the patients used the prescription list as a source of information for their drug treatments. Furthermore, 31.1% of the patients used the drug packaging and 17.6% of them only used their memory. 10.8% of the patients used the medication list from healthcare.  Conclusions: The results suggest that discrepancies were quite common in the prescription list, which can increase the risk of medication errors for patients who use the prescription list as a source of information. The implementation of the Swedish National List (NLL) (launching in 2021) will provide the caregivers, pharmacies, and patients with access to the same information about patient’s prescribed drugs. NLL will hopefully reduce the risk of medication errors and it should lead to a reduced necessity of using several different sources for prescribed drugs.

Bakgrund: Att varje patient har en god kännedom om sin läkemedelsbehandling leder till en minskad risk för felmedicinering, bättre livskvalitet på individnivå samt till att stora samhällskostnader reduceras[1]. Det finns flera olika informationsunderlag som patienter kan använda sig av för att hålla ordning på sin ordinerade läkemedelsbehandling. Dessa underlag innehåller information om förskrivna läkemedel. Dock är inget informationsunderlag heltäckande och informationen kan ibland vara inaktuell vilket kan bli problematiskt för patienten och leda till att aktuell ordination inte följs[19]. Syfte: Syftet med detta examensarbete var att genom strukturerade intervjuer på apotek undersöka vilket underlag kunder med minst fem eller fler receptordinerade läkemedel använder för att hålla ordning på sin aktuella läkemedelsbehandling. Hur många kunder som kände till och hur ofta de på apotek fått en utskrift av receptlistan ”Mina sparade recept på apoteket”. Hur många kunder som kände till och hur ofta de via personlig inloggning på internet granskat sin receptlista. Metod: Studien är en uppföljning av ”Patients’ information on their prescribed current treatment” som genomfördes år 2012[25].Strukturerade intervjuer med läkemedelsavstämningar genomfördes på 8 olika apotek i Sverige. Totalt inkluderade 167 apotekskunder. Resultat: Studien visade att 55% använde sig av utskriften av receptlistan ”Mina sparade recept på apoteket”, 39% använde sig av läkemedelsförpackningarna med apoteksetiketter med doseringsanvisning, 13% uppgav att de använde läkemedelslistan och 8% uppgav att de använde sig utav personlig inloggning med e-legitimation (receptlistan). Studien visar att en stor andel apotekskunder inte använder nödvändiga informationsunderlag som behövs för en säker läkemedelsanvändning. Slutsats: För att en patient ska kunna sköta sin läkemedelsbehandling på ett optimalt sätt krävs det att kunskap finns om vilka skriftliga underlag som finns att tillgå, vad de innefattar samt dess begränsningar. / Background If patients have access to an adequate and updated list of prescribed drugs it will lead to reduced risk of medication error and thus to better quality of life at the individual level, as well as reduced public spending for medical care. In drug treatment, patient compliance is extremely important, as incorrect medical use can lead to severe consequences. For patients prescribed long-term treatment with drugs, compliance is estimated to be only 50% [1]. There are several different sources patients can utilize to keep updated with their prescribed drugs; The Medication List (ML) from the physicians’ electronic medical record[14]. The Prescription List (PL) with all prescriptions stored in the Swedish National Prescription Repository (NPR) accessible from any pharmacy in Sweden [19]. The Pharmacy Record List (PR) of the purchases on prescriptions made over the past 15-month period[15]. Paper prescriptions[20]. The pharmacy packaging labels[11]. Patients may also access their PL over the internet. Objective The purpose of the study was to investigate, via questionnaire interviews in pharmacies, what sources of information customers used to keep updated in their prescribed drugs. Patients with at least five or more prescription drugs (data from the NPR) were included in the survey. It was also investigated how many customers that had knowledge of and had received a printout of the PL "My stored prescription at the pharmacy" at visits in the pharmacies. It was also investigated to what extent customers had visited a public website, through personal login, to take part of their PL, and how often. Methods This survey is a follow-up of another study "Patients' information on their prescribed current treatment" published in 2012 [25]. In this study customers were recruited from 8 different pharmacies in Sweden. Customers where asked to answer questions from a questionnaire and a drug reconciliation was done. A total of 167 customers, with at least five prescribed drugs, were included. Key findings The majority, 55%, stated that they used the PL printout "My stored prescription at the pharmacy". 39% relied on instructions given on the of drug packages and the pharmacy labels with dosage instructions. 13% of the customers reported that they used the ML handed over from their physician. 8% stated that they used the website via personal login with e-ID to get to the PL ”My stored prescription at the pharmacy”. Conclusion On March 1, 2018, the government decided on the draft bill for a national pharmaceutical list. The list should provide a complete and up-to-date picture of the individual patient's drugs, regardless of who prescribed the drug and where in the country this occurred[19]. Thus, modernity development should lead to a reduced necessity of using several different sources for prescribed drugs, which can hopefully reduce the risk of errors in drug use and increase the overall patient safety.