Medication errors at Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health.
BACKGROUND
In the past two years, medication errors have been recognized as having been unacceptably high among hospitalized patients.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the incidence and type of medication errors, severity of events, patient outcomes and categories of drugs involved in the largest pediatric hospital in Thailand over a fifteen-month-period.


METHODS
Retrospective review of in-patient medication errors documented in standard reporting forms from September 2001 to November 2002. Main outcome measure was the incidence of errors reported.


RESULTS
Medication errors occurred in 1 per cent of admissions (322 errors of 32,105 admissions). The most common error type was prescription error (35.40%). The majority of errors were detected and prevented before the drugs were administered (76.71%). There was only one case of permanent brain damage; no deaths occurred in the study period. The most common group of drugs involved in medication errors was antibiotics and the most common route of administration was oral.


CONCLUSIONS
Medication errors are not uncommon. There is a need to change the behaviors of recognizing and acknowledging clinical errors, including drug errors. Careful review of errors highlights the many opportunities to change how drug errors are addressed and to make them less likely.
Sangtawesin
Varaporn
V
Department of Pediatrics, Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health, Bangkok 10400, Thailand.
Kanjanapattanakul
Wiboon
W
Srisan
Panida
P
Nawasiri
Wipajaree
W
Ingchareonsunthorn
Pornsri
P
D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013785:Thailand / Q000453:epidemiology