Prescribing error interception within men's health clinic Pilot’s sexual health services

How did Pilot’s sexual health prescribing perform?

A new study in Pharmacy has unveiled critical insights into the safety of prescribing medications for men’s sexual health conditions within a telehealth service called Pilot. Unlike the Juniper weight loss program which includes a range of allied health services, Pilot's sexual health clinic is limited to prescribed medication and direct clinical support.

This world first study aimed to measure the frequency and nature of prescribing errors intercepted by Pilot’s external partner pharmacists, and reported significantly low error rates.

There was a 0.95% prescribing error rate detected in ED & PE prescriptions in 2023

Understanding the results

The study assessed all prescriptions issued for medications erectile dysfunction (ED) and premature ejaculation (PE) that were dispensed through one of Pilot's partner pharmacies, Cloud Pharmacy, to Pilot patients in 2023 (totalling 43,792 prescriptions).

The prescriptions were reviewed by the designated Cloud pharmacist on duty, as well as by Pilot's internal pharmacist-led auditing system. These reviews had regard to the patient's medical history including existing medications and dispensing history. Errors identified were categorised by type, severity and prescribing condition (ED or PE). Types of errors included incorrect medication or dose, insufficient counselling by the prescriber and inadequate medical history review (non-critical).

The study found that:

• out of the total number of prescriptions, 414 (0.95%) contained an error, with the majority (58%) classified as low severity.
• out of the 30,649 ED prescriptions/medications, 265 (0.86%) contained an error
• out of the 13,154 PE prescriptions/medications, 149 (1.13%) contained an error
• Cloud pharmacists (rather than Pilot's auditing system) detected 22 errors (5.31% of all errors), including 12 for PE prescriptions and 10 for ED prescriptions
• Seven of the pharmacist-detected errors were of high or medium severity, with drug contraindications being the most common type of error

Significance of the research

As the first study to measure sexual health prescribing errors in a telehealth model, these findings highlight the essential role of pharmacists as a critical safety net, particularly in identifying high-risk errors that could lead to serious patient harm.

The study also demonstrates that well-designed telehealth services can safely facilitate the dispensing of medications for chronic conditions like ED and PE, with low overall error rates helping to provide confidence in telehealth as a safe and scalable model for addressing chronic and stigmatised conditions.

The research calls for continued evaluation of prescribing safety across telehealth services and broader regulatory frameworks to ensure patient safety in unbundled digital care models. These findings also encourage further investment in pharmacist-led interventions to enhance medication safety and clinical outcomes in telehealth settings.