Occurrence Of Medication Errors Research Articles

Decreasing medication errors in Alexandria Main University Hospital Critical Care Unit 3 using sensitization program

ABSTRACT Introduction The occurrence of medication errors in hospital settings presents considerable public health challenges, as they significantly affect patient morbidity and mortality, especially with an increasing frequency in critical care units. Material and methods A prospective before-and-after study conducted in Critical Care Unit 3 at Alexandria Main University Hospital involved 1440 observations of medication errors in 16-bed units over three months, encompassing 181 patients using a checklist. After implementing a sensitization program, a follow-up study was conducted with 1472 observations involving 185 patients over another three months. The comprehensive study focuses on the impact of the sensitization program on medication errors and its reporting, employing a prospective before-after design. Results No statistically significant difference in mortality was observed between Control and Postintervention groups (p = 0.258). Prescription errors accounted for 52.0%, transcription errors 19.2%, dispensing errors 1.2%, preparation errors 13.9%, and administration errors 13.6% of total medication errors. In the Control group, 38.7% experienced at least one medical error, compared to 21.6% in the Postintervention group (p < 0.001). There were 396 medication errors (27.5% of observations) in the Control group versus 250 errors (17.0% of observations) in the Postintervention group (p < 0.001). Errors reporting increased from 3.8% to 30% (p < 0.001). Conclusions The non-technological sensitization program effectively reduced medication errors in our resource-limited unit and improved error reporting.

Medication errors occurrence and reporting: A qualitative study of the Jordanian nurses' experiences

Background &amp; Aim: Medication errors are a significant concern in healthcare, with effective management largely dependent on understanding its causes and reporting practices. This study aims to explore the experiences of Jordanian nurses in relation to medication error occurrence and reporting within the Jordanian context and the factors that may influence their decisions to report or not. Methods &amp; Materials: A qualitative descriptive approach was used. 24 nurses from three different hospitals were interviewed. The hospitals included a major governmental institution, a private facility, and a university hospital, ensuring diverse healthcare settings. Data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis, and the study was reported guided by the COREQ checklist. Results: Three major themes were identified: Obsolete policies and guidelines, Adapting to an Unhealthy Environment, and Trying to adjust: creating own definition for MEs. In our study, medication errors emerged as a pervasive issue across Jordanian hospitals, attributed to both systemic failures and individual practices. Despite existing policies, participants reported frequent MEs due to obsolete guidelines, lack of adherence, and an environment that hinders effective medication administration. Conclusion: The study reveals the critical issues of medication errors in Jordanian hospitals due to outdated policies and challenging environments. It emphasizes the need for updated protocols and a culture supportive of error reporting. Addressing these factors is essential for improving patient safety and healthcare quality.

A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY ON SEVERITY AND ASSESSMENT OF MEDICATION ERRORS IN A TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL

Objectives: This study mainly aims to assess the severity and occurrence of medication errors (MEs) in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital and suggest solutions for reducing MEs. Methods: It is a retrospective study of patients receiving medication during treatment. The techniques used during this study to identify MEs are direct observation of patients, daily review of medication charts by clinical pharmacists, daily audit of prescriptions, and using medication administration records. Results: The study revealed that the majority of MEs fall under the age groups of 51–60 (45), 41–50 (40), 61–70 (31), 31–40 (19), 21–30 (17), 71–80 (16), 81–90(7), 11–20(6), 1–10(3), and 91–100 (1), respectively. Among 185 patients, males were 100 and females were 85, indicating that MEs occurred more in males than females, and the personnel involved in MEs were more nurses than physicians. Conclusion: By assessing the severity and occurrence of MEs, we identified the most common risk factors for the occurrence of MEs. The study concludes that educating nurses, implementing an evidence-based treatment strategy, and fostering communication and collaboration among hospital pharmacists, doctors, and nurses can help to decrease the occurrence of MEs.

Medication error in general medicine department of tertiary care Koshi Zonal hospital in Nepal

Background: Medication errors are the leading cause of patient harm, injuries and even death in hospitalized patients. It endangers patient safety and also increases the cost of treatment leading to enhanced financial burden to the individuals and the community as well. The study was aimed to determine the pattern of occurrence of medication errors. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 188 hospitalized patients in medical ward at a Zonal Hospital. Medication errors were identified and categorized by reviewing the cardex. The data were analyzed to determine the cause of medication errors including rates of harm to patients. The descriptive statistics frequency and percentage were calculated using Microsoft Excel 2007. The findings were presented as tables and graphs. Results: A total of 985 medication errors were found in 650 (38.3%) drugs prescribed in 177 (94.1%) patients. Approximately 72.9% of the errors reached the patients and 32.39% of the errors were harmful. The most common observed errors were administration errors (41.6%) followed by prescribing errors (36.5%), transcription errors (14.3%) and monitoring errors (7.5%). Omission of prescribing information (63.88%) and wrong dosing schedule (34%) were the most common type of prescribing and transcription errors respectively. Omission of dosages administration (57.32%) to patients was the most common types of administration error. All types of medication errors were highest in the alimentary tract and metabolism class of drugs (32.39%). Conclusions: Medication errors were associated with the majority of hospitalized patients signifying the requirement of immediate preventive strategies and policies to ensure patient safety.

Investigating safe nursing care and medication safety competence in nursing students: a multicenter cross-sectional study in Iran

BackgroundMedication safety competence is very important as one of the clinical skills among nursing students to provide safe nursing care. The lack of medication safety competence in nursing students leads to occurrence of medication errors subsequently jeopardizing patient safety. Thus, the present study was conducted to investigate safe nursing care and medication safety competence among nursing students in the south of Iran.MethodsA descriptive cross-sectional multicenter study was conducted from September to December 2022. The research population included nursing students of three universities of medical sciences in Fars Province, Southern Iran. A total of 310 nursing students who were selected through convenience sampling participated in the study. The data collection instruments consisted of a demographics survey, Medication Safety Competence Scale (MSCS), and a Safe Nursing Care Scale (SNCS). The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (absolute and relative frequency, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Independent t-test, Analysis of variance and Pearson correlation coefficient). The data were analyzed in SPSS 23 and the level of significance was considered 0.05.ResultsThe mean age of the participants was 22.53 ± 1.69 years. The total mean scores for medication safety competence and safe nursing care were found to be 111.97 ± 11.85 and 105.12 ± 11.64, respectively. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between safe nursing care and medication safety competence (r = 0.084, P < 0.001).ConclusionThe mean scores of nursing students’ medication safety competence and safe nursing care were at an average level. To maintain patient safety, nursing instructors and managers are recommended to employ appropriate strategies to improve medication safety competence and safe nursing care in nursing students.

Effect of Occupational Stress on Work Behavior as Perceived by Nurses at Benue State University Teaching Hospital Makurdi.

Every work environment, especially in hospital settings must be conducive, friendly, and stress-free in order to promote quality care and the well-being of healthcare workers, whose job demands are increasing by the day. The purpose of this study was to determine the perceived effect of occupational stress on work behavior among nurses at Benue State University Teaching Hospital in Makurdi. From the facility's population of nurses, a quantitative survey randomly chose 150 respondents nurses, for the purpose of gathering information and testing the hypothesis, a well- developed and validated questionnaire was employed to gather data. Using SPSS, the data were descriptively analyzed, and an inferential analysis with a significance level of 5% was performed using Pearson's Chi-square test (0.05). The majority of participants (56.6%) were men with a higher level of education. This study also shows the effect of occupational stress on work behavior as poor work performance 142 (94.7%), counterproductive work behavior 139 (92.7%), increases the incidence of absenteeism 112 (74.7%), high occurrence of medication error 120 (80%), Negative effect on teamwork 98 (65.3%), increases the incidence of Substance use disorders 95 (63.3), and aggressive attitude toward patients during nursing care 137 (91.3). Furthermore, there is a significant association between occupational stress and job satisfaction (x2 = 25.49, df = 8, and p < 0.001), patient safety (x2 = 51.07, df = 8, and P = 0.002), and nurses' attitudes toward their patients (x2 = 86.67, df = 12, and P = 0.012). We discovered that workplace stress can affect how happy nurses are with their jobs and how they behave while providing nursing care. We recommend that hospital administrators implement a plan to create a stress-free working environment for nurses.

Medical errors in terms of cause, departments of occurring and solutions from the point of view of doctors in Benghazi Medical Center

Medical errors negatively affect patients in the first place, medical service providers as well as health organizations in terms of quality. The main purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of medical errors in terms of causes, departments with the highest incidence of them, the most blame for their occurring, and strategies to prevent medical errors from occurring from the perspective of doctors in Benghazi Medical Centre. A cross-sectional design was chosen to conduct this study, and data was collected from doctors working at Benghazi Medical Center. 281 sample random samples were selected at random. The Epi Info tool calculated the sample size with a 95% confidence interval, and the response rate was 100%. The instrument of data collection was a self-administration questionnaire. (SPSS version 22) was used to analyze the collected data. The results show that the most common errors occurred in the emergency room (66. 9%).In addition, it has been found that one of the most important factors that contribute to the occurrence of medical errors was the lack of necessary resources for some tasks (566%).45.6% of doctors blamed the administration and (57.7) seminars and workshops was the best solution to solve the medical errors issue. Results appears that a lack of required resources was generally the main reason for medical errors. Additionally, the emergency room is a typical location for medical errors to occur. Through workshops and seminars, doctors determined the best way to stop medical errors. Additionally, the study participants attributed the occurrence of medical errors to the administration in their respective departments.

Assessment of Nursing Workload and Adverse Events Reporting among Critical Care Nurses in the United Arab Emirates

Background: Nursing is a demanding job, and excessive workloads have been demonstrated to negatively impact patient care. This study aimed to determine the associations between nursing workload on the days of intensive care unit (ICU) admission and discharge and adverse events among patients (i.e. ICU readmission and medication errors). Methods: This study used a retrospective cohort design. We reviewed medical records for 270 patients admitted to the ICU from three hospitals in the United Arab Emirates between February and April 2023. Collected data included patients’ demographics, diagnosis, acuity score on ICU admission/discharge days, Nursing Activities Score (NAS) on ICU admission/discharge days and adverse events reported (i.e. occurrence of medication errors and re-admission to ICU after discharge). Results: The nursing workload on ICU admission and discharge days was high (NAS=72.61 and NAS=52.61, respectively). There were significant associations between ICU readmission and nursing workload at ICU admission and discharge. Moreover, there was a significant relationship between the occurrence of medication errors and nursing workload on the day of ICU admission, with more medication errors occurring in patients with higher NAS scores. Conclusion: The complexity of nursing activities and the severity of patients’ conditions directly impact the nursing workload and patient outcomes. A practical strategy to reduce the nursing workload may be calculating the NAS to clarify the actual time spent by nurses to provide the required care based on the patient’s condition. Adoption of new technologies to enhance medication safety and minimise errors may be another strategy to reduce the impact of the high nursing workload in ICU settings.

Frequency and influential factors on occurrence of medical errors: A three-year cross-sectional study.

Despite efforts to improve patient safety, medical errors (MEs) continue to recur. Proper utilization of reported MEs can be effective in preventing their recurrence. This study investigated the errors reported in 3 years and examined the factors affecting them. This descriptive analytical study was conducted using the errors reported in 20 hospitals under the auspices of one of Iran's medical universities from 2018 to 2020. All reported errors were investigated by an expert panel. In total, 6584 reported errors were grouped into four main categories based on the type of error. The highest reported errors were related to the management and treatment procedures. Analyses of the factors influencing medical errors revealed that 15 factors affected the occurrence of errors. An increasing trend of error was found in 9 of the 15 identified factors. Incorrect documenting of the physician's order in the nursing Kardex and noncompliance with the patient identification guide were the highest with 16.03 and 15.47%, respectively. The most identified factor was the incorrect registration of the physician's prescription on the nursing card; therefore, it seems that the use of computerized physician order entry should be considered. Furthermore, the mere existence and training of patient safety guides cannot help prevent errors. Not only should the underlying causes of errors be carefully identified and investigated but it also requires serious determination to follow the patient's safety instructions from the highest to the lowest levels of the health system.

Knowledge, attitude, and practices related to medication errors among nursing professionals: a questionnaire-based study in a tertiary care hospital

Abstract Objective To evaluate the level of understanding (knowledge), beliefs (attitude), and behavior (practice) of staff nurses toward medication errors (MEs). Methods Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to nursing professionals who had at least 1 year of work experience. Each questionnaire contained 19 items assessing “knowledge,” “attitude,” and “practice” attributes toward MEs. Results Responses from 47 nursing respondents were included for the final analysis. The mean knowledge score was 3.8 ± 1.1 (out of 6); 66% and 79% of the respondents had awareness of medication reporting systems and interventions in preventing MEs, respectively. Lack of adequate knowledge in recognizing MEs (P = 0.003), or presuming MEs are not as important enough to be reported (P = 0.002), was considered as the major reason for under-reporting of MEs. Nurses with higher knowledge score were against administration of medication through a different route than that prescribed by the physician (P = 0.023), and tried to rectify an ME (P = 0.020) and stayed with the patient until an oral medication had been swallowed (P = 0.037). Conclusions The nursing professionals were aware of the ME reporting system and methods to prevent the occurrence of MEs. They also exhibited a positive attitude and followed optimal practices in controlling MEs.

A cross sectional survey of nurses’ reasons for medication errors at private multispecialty hospitals in Madurai, India

Abstract Introduction Healthcare services should eliminate errors, but any human-involved tasks are prone to error and healthcare is no exception.1 Medication errors are possible in hospitals though they should be eliminated with utmost care. Such medication errors would lead to an increased fatality rate, the emergence of new diseases, increased mediation costs and extended hospital stays.2,3 Aim This cross-sectional study aimed to classify and to identify the reasons for medication error as reported by the nurses and the impact of the collaborative work of Nurses, Pharmacists and Doctors in reducing medication errors and improving patient safety. Methods An exploratory (cross-sectional) study was conducted to classify and to identify the reasons for medication error among 474 nurses working in private multispecialty hospitals in Madurai between January to May 2023. The data for the study was collected using a questionnaire which included demographic variables and questions on medication errors. The questionnaire was filled through a one-to-one interview method and the data collected were analysed using SPSS 21.0. Results The results of analyses done using SPSS revealed that 58.2% of nurses reported having made medication errors and 88.4% of them said they had reported these immediately on the occurrence of such errors to their nursing superintendents. The most common type of medication errors reported were wrong infusion rates and wrong medicines, especially for medicines with similar sounding names (sound-alike drugs). Lack of awareness of the causes of medication errors was found to be the major reason for the occurrence of such errors in hospitals. The analyses showed that there was a significant relationship between age, years of experience and medication errors. One-way ANOVA analysis revealed that the greater the age and experience, the lesser the occurrence of medication errors. However, there was no significant relationship between working shifts and medication errors. The findings also highlighted that the greater the number of patients in the ward, the higher the error in oral administration of drugs. The finding reveals that teamwork between nurses, pharmacists and doctors was reported to help to drastically reduce the number of errors. Discussion/Conclusion Whilst a small-scale study only and reliant on accurate self-reporting, the findings suggest that not all nurses report medication errors, which could result in adverse outcomes for patients. Hence the nursing managers or nursing superintendents should encourage nurses to report medication errors to ensure patient safety. The findings also suggest that collaborative work between nurses, pharmacists, and doctors can reduce medication errors, hence collaborative work and appointing clinical Pharmacists is important to reducing medication errors.

Identifying the Effective Factors in Occurrence of Medication Errors in Children Infected with HIV/AIDS Virus in Iran's Health System Using the Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Introduction: Medication errors reduce quality of life, immune system function, and cause significant mortality in children with HIV/AIDS. The present study was conducted with the aim of identifying and explaining the factors affecting the management of medication errors in children infected with HIV/AIDS virus in Iran's health system.&#x0D; Methods: The current study was a descriptive one conducted in 2020-2021. At first, by reviewing the research literature and interviewing experts in the field of treating children with HIV/AIDS virus, the main factors affecting the occurrence of medication errors in children with HIV/AIDS virus were extracted and using them, the research questionnaire was designed. Data were collected from 400 experts in the field of treating children with HIV/AIDS virus and analyzed using exploratory factor analysis and through SPSS version 16 and Lisrel software.&#x0D; Results: Four factors included organizational factors (p &lt; 0.001), individual factors (p &lt; 0.001), educational factors (p &lt; 0.001) and communication factors (p &lt; 0.001), were identified as effective factors in the management of medication errors in children with HIV/AIDS virus. Factors including Individual, communication, organizational and educational with respective factor loadings of 0.84, 0.81, 0.79 and 0.77 had an effect on the management of medication errors in HIV positive children.&#x0D; Conclusion: For successful management of medication errors in children infected with HIV/AIDS, it is advisable to prioritize individual and communication factors (i.e., behavior-based disease counseling specialists) while attending to all four of the relevant factors.

Root cause analysis of medication errors of the most frequently involved active substances in paediatric patients

Use of medicinal products in paediatric patients is identified as a risk factor for the occurrence of medication errors. To describe and identify root causes of medication errors in children and adolescents spontaneously reported to Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices of Croatia (Agency). Agency's adverse drug reaction database was searched by using the Standardised MedDRA Query: medication errors (Broad) with data lock point set at 30th June 2022. Cases in which medication errors occurred in patients up to 18 years of age were analysed according to the patients' age group and gender, reporter's qualification, seriousness, reported preferred terms and active substances. For the first 30 most frequently reported active substances, an in-depth analysis was performed to identify the root cause of medication errors. Altogether, 6254 reports were spontaneously reported to the Agency, out of which 1947 (31%) contained at least one preferred term belonging to Standardised MedDRA Query medication errors. More than half of patients experiencing medication errors belonged to the age group 2-11 years (66%) and male gender (53%). The most frequently reported ME PTs included accidental exposure to product by a child (64%) and accidental overdose (17%). Medication error root causes for the first 30 most frequently involved active substances included misinterpretation of prescribed dosage due to a very small volume resulting in salbutamol overdose; replacing millilitre and milligram units resulting in paracetamol solution overdose; interchange between medicinal products due to primary package similarities resulting in cholecalciferol overdose and interchange between oral solution and syrup resulting in valproate overdose. Healthcare professionals should counsel caregivers about the importance of keeping medicinal products out of children's reach and provide detailed instructions on how to appropriately use medicinal products.

VALIDATE approach on medication adequacy clinical decision support systems: Holistic assessment for optimal technology adoption

IntroductionLately, Health Technology Assessment (HTA) has narrowed its scope to analyses of mainly clinical and economic benefits. Recent challenges emphasize the need for holistic assessments to obtain accurate recommendations for decision-making considering empirical facts and stakeholder's values. VALIDATE approach considers stakeholder's views and empirical facts allowing for more comprehensive HTAs. This study frames the assessment for clinical decision support systems (CDSS) using VALIDATE. MethodsA systematic review of the literature was conducted to gather evidence on the CDSS's effectiveness and published stakeholder perspectives. Considering the retrieved information, semi-structured interviews with stakeholders were conducted to uncover issues around CDSSs such as problem definition regarding the occurrence of medication errors, judgement of existing preventive methods and previous experiences with CDSSs, background theories regarding thoughts on future impact and personal beliefs, and barriers/facilitators for implementation. ResultsWhen including multi-stakeholder views, reasons different from the literature are shown to interfere with CDSS acceptance/implementation, such as: i) Occurrence of ME (no traceability of medication taken/poor patient empowerment), ii) Technology as a tool to prevent ME (insufficient if only implemented at one point-of-care), iii) Previous experiences with CDSSs (low CDSSs development due to drug prescription being lastly digitalized in hospitals) and iv) CDSSs metrics (data inputted should be measured to control CDSSs performance). ConclusionIncluding multi-stakeholders views in scoping technology evaluation brings added value and new information for the assessment, resulting in more comprehensive assessment; otherwise, it can lead to inaccurate information resulting in inaccurate decisions on if, when and how to adopt CDSS. Public Interest SummaryIncluding varied stakeholders into health technology assessment provides a deeper understanding of what value can a technology bring in. The present study develops a framework to assess clinical decision support systems (CDSS) considering different stakeholders. They were interviewed to understand their perspective on different parts of the problem CDSSs try to solve (medication errors) and the solution itself (CDSSs). Some reasons on the interviews were different from the literature published so far, that are shown to hinder CDSS acceptance/implementation, such as: no traceability of medication taken/poor patient empowerment, CDSSs being insufficient if only implemented at one point-of-care, low CDSSs development due to drug prescription being lastly digitalized in hospitals and CDSS metrics (data inputted should be measured to control CDSSs performance). This approach can improve both implementation chances and posterior assessment of CDSSs.

Implementation Status and Challenges Associated With Implementation of the Targeted Medication Safety Best Practices in a Tertiary Hospital.

Background The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) is a well-known non-profit organization dedicated to preventing medication errors. Every two years they publish best practices that can reduce the occurrence of medication errors. This study aims to evaluate the implementation status of these best practices and to understand barriers associated with non-implementation at a tertiary hospital in Saudi Arabia. Methodology This was a two-phase qualitative study. First, a survey consisting of the ISMP best practices was sent to employees (mainly heads of departments) to fill out the implementation rate for each best practice. Then an interview or a focus group was conducted to further validate their answers and understand why some best practices were not implemented. Results Our study found that the highest implemented best practices were having strategies to improve safety with high-alert medications (best practice #19, 85.7%), having antidotes and reversal agents readily available (best practice #9, 75%), independent verification of sterile preparation (best practice #11, 75%), and limiting the number of removable medications from the automated dispensing unit by override (best practice #16, 75%). The least implemented best practices were ensuring that oral liquid medications are dispensed in a syringe (best practice #4, 12.5%), maximizing use of barcode verification (best practice #18, 12.5%), purchasing oral liquid dosing devices that display metric scale (best practice #5, 25%), eliminating glacial acetic acid from all areas of the hospital (best practice #6, 28.6%), and eliminating all 1,000 mL of sterile water from all areas outside of the pharmacy (best practice #10, 28.6%). Challenges associated with implementation were related to knowledge, motivation, and opportunity in the environment, with the latter being the highest barrier associated with non-implementation. Conclusions Healthcare providers need to have knowledge about the best practices and the rationale behind them, the motivation to perform them, and the necessary resources to implement the best practices in their hospital.

A 10-Year Retrospective Analysis of Medication Errors among Adult Patients: Characteristics and Outcomes.

Medication errors (MEs) are a global health problem. We conducted this study to clarify the clinical characteristics, outcomes, and factors associated with MEs that caused harm to adult patients (>15 years of age) who were managed in hospitals or healthcare facilities. We performed a 10-year retrospective study (2011-2020) by analyzing data from the Ramathibodi Poison Center (RPC) database (RPC Toxic Exposure Surveillance System). There were a total of 112 patients included in this study. Most were women (59.8%) and had underlying diseases (53.6%). The mean patient age was 50.5 years. Most MEs occurred during the afternoon shift (51.8%) and in the outpatient department (65.2%). The most common type of ME was a dose error (40.2%). Local anesthetic was the most common class of ME-related drug. Five patients died due to MEs. We analyzed the factors associated with MEs that caused patient harm, including death (categories E-I). The presence of underlying diseases was the single factor that was statistically significantly different between groups. Clinical characteristics showed no significant difference between patients aged 15-65 years and those aged >65 years. In conclusion, our findings emphasized that MEs can cause harm and even death in some adult patients. Local anesthetics were the most commonly involved in MEs. Having an underlying disease might contribute to severe consequences from MEs. Preventive measures and safety systems must be highlighted and applied to prevent or minimize the occurrence of MEs.

Interventions to Minimize Medication Error by Nurses in Intensive Care: A Scoping Review Protocol.

Medication errors represent a concern for healthcare organizations due to their negative consequences. In the nursing context, these errors represent a threat to the quality of care and patient safety. Many factors have been identified as potential causes for these errors in intensive care units. A scoping review will be developed to identify interventions/strategies to minimize the occurrence of medication errors by nurses, considering the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology. A search will be conducted in the EbscoHost (CINAHL Complete and MEDLINE), Embase and PubMed databases. Data analysis, extraction and synthesis will be carried out by two reviewers independently. This review will attempt to map which interventions are more specific to minimizing medication error by nurses in intensive care and to recognize which factors influence this type of error to mitigate practices that may lead to error. This protocol acts as the framework for a scoping review in the strategy to map the interventions and which factors contribute to the medication error by intensive care nurses. This study was prospectively registered with the Open Science Framework on 21 April 2023 with registration number DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/94KH3.

Evaluation of medication errors in patients with kidney diseases in Quetta, Pakistan.

Medication errors represent a significant challenge in healthcare, as they can lead to enduring harm for patients and impose substantial financial burdens on the healthcare system. To effectively mitigate medication errors, it is imperative to gain a comprehensive understanding of their frequency and the contributing variables. Thus, the primary objective of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of medication errors among patients with kidney diseases in Quetta, Pakistan. The objective of this study was to assess medication errors in patients diagnosed with kidney diseases in Quetta, Pakistan. The research was conducted at the Balochistan Institute of Nephro-Urology Quetta (BINUQ) Hospital, which serves as a tertiary care center specializing in the treatment of kidney diseases. A cross-sectional descriptive study design was employed over a period of six months. The study population consisted of patients admitted to the Nephro-urology wards at BINUQ Hospital during the specified duration. Data collection encompassed various methodologies, including checklist-guided observation, review of prescription order forms, documentation of drug administration, and comprehensive analysis of patient medical records. Descriptive and analytical analyses were conducted using SPSS version 23. Univariate analysis was employed to identify independent variables associated with medication errors, employing a significance level of p<0.01. The multivariate logistic regression analysis incorporated variables that exhibited a significant association with medication errors during the univariate analysis. Only those variables demonstrating a p-value of less than 0.05 at a 95% confidence level were considered significant predictors of medication administration errors within the final multivariate model. Among the 274 medication errors identified in the study, documentation errors accounted for 118 cases (12.06%), administration errors for 97 cases (9.91%), prescribing errors for 34 cases (3.47%), and dispensing errors for 25 cases (2.55%). Statistical analysis revealed significant associations (p<0.05) between forgetfulness and duty shift, and medication errors in the documentation process. Similarly, inattention was significantly associated (p<0.05) with both prescribing and dispensing errors. Furthermore, the number of medications received emerged as the most influential factor associated with medication errors. Patients receiving 4-6 medications exhibited an odds ratio of 9.08 (p<0.001) compared to patients receiving 1-3 medications, while patients receiving more than 6 medications had an odds ratio of 4.23 (p<0.001) in relation to patients receiving 1-3 medications. In conclusion, this study determined that documentation errors were the most prevalent medication errors observed in patients with kidney disease in Quetta, Pakistan. Forgetfulness and duty shift were associated with documentation errors, whereas inattention was linked to prescribing and dispensing errors. The significant risk factor for medication errors was found to be a high number of prescribed medications. Therefore, strategies aimed at reducing medication errors should prioritize enhancements in documentation practices, alleviating medication burden, and increasing awareness among healthcare providers.

Evaluation of the Potential for Medication Error in Outpatient Elderly Patients at Siti Fatimah Az-Zahra Regional Hospital

Medication error is an event or situation that can be prevented and avoided, but if drugs cannot be controlled it can lead to inappropriate or harmful use of drugs. Medication error is an error made unintentionally in prescribing (Prescribing), reading prescriptions (transcribing), preparing prescriptions (dispensing) and administration. The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of medication errors in the prescribing and transcribing phase in elderly patients. This study included descriptive observational research in a retrospective manner with purposive sampling method in the form of prescriptions of elderly patients at Siti Fatimah Az-Zahra Hospital Palembang. The results obtained in this study indicate that the occurrence of medication errors at the Prescribing stage, namely no prescription date 12%, no doctor's SIP 15%, no doctor's signature 10%, no dosage unit 35%, no amount of drug administration 3% and at the Transcribing stage, namely unclear / complete drug names 34%, unclear / complete drug doses 34% and unclear / complete drug amounts 3%.&#x0D; Keywords: medication error, prescribing, transcribing

The Extent of Medication Errors During Hajj in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Background Medication errors are frequently identified in healthcare institutions and pose a risk to patients. The mass gathering during Hajj may expose the pilgrims to numerous health risks. No study has reported the extent of medication errors during Hajj in Saudi Arabia.Weinvestigated the rate, nature, reporting, severity, and causes of medication errors in Hajj pilgrims. Methodology A retrospective analysis of medication errors reported by healthcare professionals was conducted from July 5, 2022, to July 15, 2022, at Mina Al Wadi Hospital, Saudi Arabia. This study included all medication error report forms collected during the Hajj season. The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention Index was used to classify the severity of medication errors. Results There were reports of 43 medication errors in 3,210 prescriptions. The medication error incidence rate was 1.5% (43/3,210). The highest proportion of medication errors (83.72%, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 72.69-94.75) occurred during the prescribing phase, and 97% (95% CI = 93.16-100.0) of medication errors were classified as near misses. Wrong drugs (23.25%) and frequency (18.60%) were responsible for nearly half of the medication errors. Lack of drug information was the leading cause of reported medication errors (58.14%), followed by environmental, personnel, and workload issues (23.25%), and look-alike/sound-alike medication issues (18.60%). Conclusions This study found that the incidence of medication errors was consistent with the global standard, and many of them did not reach pilgrims and were preventable. This highlights the importance of targeted interventions. Incorrect medication was the common type of medication error, highlighting a crucial area for intervention and improvement. Lack of drug information was the primary underlying factor in the occurrence of medication errors. Pharmacists were more likely than other healthcare professionals to report medication errors, highlighting the importance of their involvement in improving medication safety among pilgrims. Future research needs to focus on examining the effectiveness of interventions (e.g., provision of education regarding medicines and medication review) in reducing medicine-related events during Hajj.