title: Exploring health professionals' experiences of medication errors in Saudi Arabia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is a paucity of literature originating from the Middle East on medication errors.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To explore the experiences of healthcare professionals around medication errors and medication error reporting. Setting Saudi Arabia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Questionnaire survey of those attending medication error continuing education sessions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Experiences of medication errors in terms of number, type and severity in the preceding 12 months; barriers to reporting errors to health authorities; potential strategies to improve error reporting.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty-one (61/106, 57.5 %) questionnaires were completed. Thirty-five respondents (57.3 %) reported observing 51 errors during the preceding 12 months. Thirty-five errors (68.6 %) were described: wrong medication prescribed, dispensed or administered (11, 31.4 %); wrong dose prescribed (9, 25.7 %); inappropriate prescribing (issues of drug selection, monitoring) (9, 25.7 %); inappropriate route of administration (2), prescription duplication (2) and equipment failure (2). Patient outcomes resulting from these errors were described by the respondents as 'caused patient harm' in 14 instances. Three key barriers to reporting were: lack of awareness of the reporting policy; workload and time constraints associated with reporting; and unavailability of the reporting form.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings indicate a potential need to review medication error reporting systems in Saudi Arabia to heighten health professional awareness and improve the reporting culture.
authors: Ministry of Health, Patient Safety Department, The Maternity and Children's Hospital, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors: Mansour
authors: M
authors: Tobaiqy
authors: Derek
authors: D
authors: Stewart
mesh_terms: D016907:Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D057970:Inappropriate Prescribing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000592:standards; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D016526:Workload
references: Eur J Clin Pharmacol. 2013 Apr;69(4):995-1008
references: 23090705
references: Drug Saf. 2009;32(5):379-89
references: 19419233
references: J Healthc Manag. 2002 Jul-Aug;47(4):263-79
references: 12221747
references: Drug Saf. 2006;29(11):1011-22
references: 17061907
references: BMJ Qual Saf. 2011 Apr;20(4):319-25
references: 21228436
references: Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2012 Oct;74(4):668-75
references: 22554316
references: Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2009 Jun;67(6):629-40
references: 19094162