[Medication errors in two Brazilian hospitals].
OBJECTIVE
To determine medication errors in a public and in a private hospital.


METHODS
Cross-sectional. 638 dosis opportunities for errors (administered dosis + omitted dosis) were assessed in January, 2005. Medication error was defined as any given dose different from a legible prescription on patient chart. The error rate was calculated by the following equation: number of dosis/error opportunities. The errors were classified according to the categories: omission, unordered dose, extra-dose, wrong dose, wrong route, wrong form, wrong time.


RESULTS
Out of 638 opportunities of error, 209 (32,9%) were wrong in some way. When wrong time errors were excluded, this rate decreased to 156 (25%). The most frequent types of errors were omission and unordered dosis, 67 (10,5%) and 65 (10,2%), respectively. There was no significant difference on the total error rate according to the type of hospital (public or private).


CONCLUSIONS
The public hospital showed a double-fold unordered dose error rate as compared to the private hospital. Inversely, the private hospital showed a double-fold wrong time error rate than the public hospital.
Costa
L A
LA
Servicio de Farmacia, Hospital Universitario Profesor Edgar Santos, Instituto de Salud Colectiva, Salvador, Bahía, Brasil. lindemb@ufa.br
Loureiro
S
S
de Oliveira
M G G
MG
D001938:Brazil; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*