Empowering the visually impaired by customized Braille prescription and thus reducing medication errors

PURPOSE: To assess the use of routine Braille prescription in reducing medication errors in visually impaired patients. METHODS: This observational, questionnaire-based study was conducted in 100 blind or visually impaired patients who were Braille literate (aged ≥18 years). We initiated our Braille prescription from January 2017 to March 2018. The questionnaire consisted of 8 items that captured patient details on the medication management process in addition to a face-to-face interview with them. It was administered twice to each patient at baseline and at the end. Braille prescription included details regarding all medicines, their dosages, instructions, expiry dates, and major side effects. The prescription was developed easily and quickly with an average turnaround time of 1 hour. RESULTS: It was seen that most of the study patients aged between 30-40 years (n = 80) and majority were men (78%). At baseline, 73% of our respondents faced challenges when self-administering medications as compared to 17.5% at endline. After using Braille prescription, only 5% reported of taking a wrong dosage compared to 46.2% at baseline. Patients missing a dosage significantly reduced after using routine Braille prescription (43.7% vs. 7.5% respectively, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Our study successfully has rolled out Braille prescription as an efficacious method in addressing the key issues to medication safety with the visually impaired.