title: Hospital medication errors in a pharmacovigilance system in Colombia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  this study analyzes the medication errors reported to a pharmacovigilance system by 26 hospitals for patients in the healthcare system of Colombia.
  
  
  METHODS
  this retrospective study analyzed the medication errors reported to a systematized database between 1 January 2008 and 12 September 2013. The medication is dispensed by the company Audifarma S.A. to hospitals and clinics around Colombia. Data were classified according to the taxonomy of the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCC MERP). The data analysis was performed using SPSS 22.0 for Windows, considering p-values < 0.05 significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  there were 9 062 medication errors in 45 hospital pharmacies. Real errors accounted for 51.9% (n = 4 707), of which 12.0% (n = 567) reached the patient (Categories C to I) and caused harm (Categories E to I) to 17 subjects (0.36%). The main process involved in errors that occurred (categories B to I) was prescription (n = 1 758, 37.3%), followed by dispensation (n = 1 737, 36.9%), transcription (n = 970, 20.6%) and administration (n = 242, 5.1%). The errors in the administration process were 45.2 times more likely to reach the patient (CI 95%: 20.2-100.9).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  medication error reporting systems and prevention strategies should be widespread in hospital settings, prioritizing efforts to address the administration process.
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Investigación en Farmacoepidemiología y Farmacovigilancia de la Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira-Audifarma S.A. Pereira, Colombia.. machado@utp.edu.co.
authors.forename: Jorge Enrique
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Machado Alba
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Investigación en Farmacoepidemiología y Farmacovigilancia de la Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira-Audifarma S.A. Pereira, Colombia.. machado@utp.edu.co.
authors.forename: Paula Andrea
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Moreno Gutiérrez
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Investigación en Farmacoepidemiología y Farmacovigilancia de la Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira-Audifarma S.A. Pereira, Colombia.. machado@utp.edu.co.
authors.forename: Juan Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Moncada Escobar
mesh_terms: D016907:Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems; D003105:Colombia; D004346:Drug Information Services; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D060735:Pharmacovigilance; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration; D012189:Retrospective Studies