The proportion of errors in medical prescriptions and their executions among hospitalized children before and during accreditation.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the rate of medication related errors in the pediatric ward and pediatric emergency department (PED), before and after implementing intervention strategies according to the Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation program.


METHODS
A retrospective cross-sectional study that included chart review.


METHODS
A university affiliated pediatric ward and PED.


METHODS
Children 0-18 years old admitted on February 2013 (before the JCI program) and February 2014 (during implementation of the JCI program).


METHODS
A training program designed to meet the JCI official standards on medication prescribing.


METHODS
The number of prescribing and medication administration errors in the 2 years.


RESULTS
We collected 937 valid prescription orders and 924 administration orders (1861 medical orders) from February 2013, and 961 valid prescription orders and 958 administration orders (1919 medical orders) from February 2014. There was a significant reduction in prescribing errors from 6.5 to 4.2% between years 2013 and 2014 (P = 0.03). There was no significant difference in administration error rates between the two periods (104 (11.3%) in the first period and 114 (11.9%) in the second; P = 0.61).


CONCLUSIONS
The errors rate we found was within the range described in the literature. Quality assurance interventions can significantly reduce medication prescribing errors.
Department of Pediatrics, Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, Zerifin, Israel.|Department of Pediatrics, Meir Medical Center, Kfar Saba, Israel.
Tal Margalit
TM
Mekory
Department of Pediatrics, Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, Zerifin, Israel.|Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Hilla
H
Bahat
Department of Neonatology, Hadassah Medical Center, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
Benjamin
B
Bar-Oz
Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.|Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, Hospital Management Zerifin, Zerifin, IL, Israel.
Orna
O
Tal
Department of Pediatrics, Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, Zerifin, Israel.|Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Matitiahu
M
Berkovitch
Department of Pediatrics, Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, Zerifin, Israel.|Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Eran
E
Kozer
D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D000068:Accreditation; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007557:Israel; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital / Q000592:standards*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
accreditation; hospital medicine; medication errors; patient safety; pediatrics