PhD Research Scholar (Department of Pharmacy Practice) JSS College of Pharmacy, Mysuru Mysore, India
Background: Medication errors (MEs) are known to taper patient safety. These errors can have a serious impact on patient’s well-being which may lead to unnecessary hospital admissions or prolonged hospital stays, which may eventually weaken patient satisfaction.
Objectives: To evaluate incidence, causes, patterns, and outcomes of medication errors reported in a tertiary care teaching hospital.
Methods: An eleven-month prospective observational study was carried out from February 2022 to December 2022 in a tertiary care teaching hospital in South India. A predesigned and pretested data collection form was developed by the research team. All MEs occurring at any level from the Departments of General Medicine, Surgery, and Cardiology were identified and reported and the data were gathered. The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCC MERP) was used to classify the reported MEs. The data were entered into MS Excel and categorically analyzed.
Results: A total of 1073 study participants were identified from the study departments, amongst which, a total of, 1360 MEs were reported and the incidence of the MEs was found to be 1.3 %. Amongst the study participants, 56.1% were males and 43.9% were females. Of the total 1073 study participants, 55.4% were in the General Medicine department, 39.8% in Surgery, and 4.8% in Cardiology. Amongst the MEs reported, the majority of errors occurred during prescribing stage [1070 (78.7%)], followed by documentation [235 (17.3%)], administration [48 (3.5 %)], and dispensing [7 (0.5%)]. Doctors (chief consultants, associate doctors, post-graduates, and MBBS interns) [1107 (81.4%)] were the most commonly implicated personnel in the majority of the reported MEs, followed by nursing staffs [244 (17.9%)], pharmacists [8 (0.6%)], and patient [1 (0.07%)]. All the identified MEs reported were categorized according to NCC MERP classification, and the majority of the reported errors belonged to Category B [605 (44.5%)] followed by Category C [559 (41.1%)], Category A [163 (12%)], Category D [32 (3.2%)], and Category E [1 (0.07%)].
Conclusions: MEs can occur at any point in the medication cycle. These MEs can not only harm patients, but they can also result in a longer hospital stay and may lead to an increased financial burden for the patient. Voluntary reporting of MEs is critical in enhancing medication safety and the overall medication process within organizations. Based on the research findings, there is a need for the development of strategies to rectify any ME that occurs, therefore improving patient safety.
