Objective: This study quantitatively analyzes the factors causing dispensing errors in community pharmacies and explores the characteristics of these factors and their order of importance.
Design and Methods: We collected data records on the contents and causes of dispensing errors as reported between April and July 2009 by a total of 320 pharmacists at 56 stores of two pharmacy chains (15 stores in Hokkaido and 41 stores in the Kansai area).  We focused on the following three types of dispensing error: 1) “measurement error”, 2) “wrong drug dispensing error” and 3) “wrong dosage form specification error”.  We conducted multiple regression analyses and discriminant analyses with occurrence frequency of each type of error as dependent variables and count frequency of each causal factor as independent variables.
Results: The result of the multiple regression analyses indicated that the primary causes of the three types of errors in order of strength of the regression coefficients were as follows.  For “measurement error”: 1) pharmacist’s wrong assumption and 2) calculation error; for “wrong dosage form specification error”: 1) insufficient confirmation of prescription and 2) pharmacist’s wrong assumption; for “wrong drug dispensing error”: 1) pharmacist’s wrong assumption and 2) insufficient confirmation of prescription.  The results of the discriminant analysis indicated that only for the discriminant coefficient between “wrong dosage form specification error” and “wrong drug dispensing error” no significant difference in the mean was found (p=0.539).
Conclusions: Results show that partly different factors cause “measurement error” as compared with the two other types of dispensing errors.  In addition, while basically the same factors were found to cause “wrong drug dispensing error” and “wrong dosage form specification error,” there was a difference in the order of importance of these factors.  This study uncovered differences in terms of causal factors affecting each dispensing error type.

Purpose: Neurogenic erectile dysfunction (ED) is a common side effect of radical prostatectomy (RP) because of cavernous nerve damage. In these patients, the production of nitric oxide (NO), which is important for erection, is decreased in the corpus cavernosum. Therefore, NO donors are useful for post-RP ED. However, short half-life and systemic side effects are problems of NO application in ED therapy. To avert these problems, we developed a red-light controllable NO releaser, NORD-1. This study aimed to investigate the effect of NORD-1 and red-light irradiation on neurogenic ED using a rat model of bilateral cavernous nerve injury (BCNI). Materials and Methods: BCNI and sham operations were conducted on 8-week-old rats. After 4 weeks, erectile function was evaluated using changes in intracavernous pressure (ICP) during electrostimulation of the cavernous nerve. ICP was measured under three conditions; without NORD-1 and red-light irradiation, with NORD-1 and without red-light irradiation, and with NORD-1 and red-light irradiation. SiR650 which absorbs red-light but does not release NO was used for the negative control. After the experiment, localization of NORD-1 was observed using a microscope. Results: Erectile function in a BCNI rat model was significantly decreased compared to sham-operated rats (p<0.05). After injecting NORD-1 into the penis, erectile function did not change without red-light irradiation. However, the combination of NORD-1 and red-light irradiation significantly improved erectile function (p<0.05) without affecting systemic arterial pressure. In contrast, when SiR650 was used, erectile function did not change in all three conditions. NORD-1 was detected only in the corpus cavernosum and not in the urethra and dorsal vein. Conclusions NORD-1 combined with red-light irradiation is effective for ED induced by cavernous nerve injury. This treatment may have low risks of hypotension and urinary incontinence, and it can replace the current treatment for post-RP ED.