Medication errors: a risk of health care

Authors

  • VÁZQUEZ M.
  • FERNÁNDEZ S.
  • MALDONADO C.
  • MÉNDEZ M.
  • ROSSI C.
  • ORRO F.
  • NEGRÍN A.
  • FAGIOLINO P.
  • LABORDE A

Keywords:

Erros de medicação. Segurança do paciente. Cuidados de saúde.

Abstract

Objectives: To contribute to the understanding of medication errors (ME) with their identification and analysis and further development of preventive recommendations.

Methodology: A retrospective observational study of notifications received by The National Toxicology Information Advisory Center from November 2009 to April 2011. The variables studied were age, sex, origin of the consultation, therapeutic group, error type, severity, location of incident, condition, previous medical interventions and resolution. The data analysis was performed using Microsoft Office Excel 2007 software. The ATC classification was applied to the drugs involved in the error and the ICD 10 for classifying pathologies. The type and the severity of the ME were established taking into account the NCC MERP taxonomy and WHO criteria.

Results: 79 notifications (39 male and 40 female) were analyzed. The most common type of ME was wrong medication (34), followed by wrong dose (30). 43% of the errors produced harm to the patient (E and F categories). 75% of notifications came from health care centers. Older people (60 to 74 years) were more affected by ME. The drugs commonly involved in errors were those used for central nervous system pathologies, followed by hormones and analgesics. 100% of the queries had an immediate response: treatment or recommendations.

Conclusions: Based on the interdisciplinary work we were able to identify and minimize the consequences of ME, making recommendations involving health authorities, pharmaceutical industry, hospital managers, health personnel, patients, families and caregivers. 

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

Published

2019-03-11

How to Cite

1.
M. V, S. F, C. M, M. M, C. R, F. O, A. N, P. F, A L. Medication errors: a risk of health care. Rev Bras Farm Hosp Serv Saude [Internet]. 2019Mar.11 [cited 2024Nov.22];2(2). Available from: https://rbfhss.org.br/sbrafh/article/view/88

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2011): May-Aug

Section

ARTIGOS PUBLICADOS

License

The authors hereby transfer, assign, or otherwise convey to RBFHSS: (1) the right to grant permission to republish or reprint the stated material, in whole or in part, without a fee; (2) the right to print republish copies for free distribution or sale; and (3) the right to republish the stated material in any format (electronic or printed). In addition, the undersigned affirms that the article described above has not previously been published, in whole or part, is not subject to copyright or other rights except by the author(s), and has not been submitted for publication elsewhere, except as communicated in writing to RHFHSS with this document.

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY-NC-ND) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

 

Serlf-archiving policy

This journal permits and encourages authors to post and archive the final pdf of the articles submitted to the journal on personal websites or institutional repositories after publication, while providing bibliographic details that credit its publication in this journal.