Paediatric drug therapy. II--Drug administration errors.
The incidence of drug administration errors was prospectively evaluated from 1098 drug administrations in 97 paediatric patients. The total incidence of errors was 12.9% in a previous study. An educational programme (lectures and a book on guidelines for drug administration) was offered to nurses in an attempt to decrease this error rate. In this follow-up study, the total incidence of errors declined from 12.9% to 5.1% (P less than 0.05). All types of drug administration errors decreased during this follow-up study. These results suggest that such efforts can maximize therapeutic benefit and minimize any potential adverse consequences of drug therapy in paediatric patients.
Nahata
M C
MC
College of Pharmacy, Ohio State University, Columbus.
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002673:Child, Hospitalized; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008499:Medical Records; D008508:Medication Errors