The aim ofthis research was to investigate trends in the occurrence of medication errors ; namely , preparation by a pharrnacist ofa medicine that does not match that described on the medical script. Fh ・ st ofall , the medication error was evaluated in terms oftwo categories applied to the character ofthe name of the medic e : the physical character ( such as string length , phonologic and number of matching character in drag name ) and the meaning character ( such a medical property ) . The

more »

... fferences between medicines mistakenly prescribed and correctly described on the medical script were assumed as distances , and these distances were calculated in each category . These distances supposed similarity between medicines mistakenly prescribed and those described on the medical receipt . In addition , the relations between calculated distances and factors related to pharrnacists , such as years of experience , were investigated . Consequently , it was fbund that the occurrence ofmedication errors depends on the length of the string ;moreover , it was suggested that the possibility of influence by similarities of character , the phoneme and the medicinal effect depended on the experience of pharmacy staf£ This means that the occurrence ofmedication error does not depend on one specitic factor , and that it probability increases when certain factors are combined . Additional , the strategy of 已 ' reading " by pharmacists differ from the general it . and the strategy ofpharmacists depend on the cognitive factors .