Translating research into practice with a safer prescribing system

Funding from the School for Primary Care Research enables researchers to develop their work, advancing it towards becoming evidence-based standard practice. A prime example is the PINCER intervention, which aims to reduce prescription errors. 

PINCER is a pharmacist-led computerised system – when it detects a hazardous prescription, it alerts a pharmacist to speak with the GPs to help correct the error and prevent it happening in future. 

A multicentre randomised controlled trial published in The Lancet in 2012 showed that the system effectively tackled hazardous prescribing or prescribing errors. This successful study was a close collaboration between the universities of Manchester and Nottingham, however the team felt that this wouldn’t be enough for it to be put to use.  

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