Abstract

MACHADO-ALBA, Jorge Enrique; OSSA-OCHOA, Lina Marcela; LOTERO-JARAMILLO, Nicolás  and  VALENCIA-ROJAS, Angélica. Identification of medication errors in a first level hospital of Pereira, Colombia. rev.fac.med. [online]. 2013, vol.61, n.3, pp.267-273. ISSN 0120-0011.

Summary Background. Medication errors are preventable events that may affect the health of hospitalized patients. Objective. Determine the frequency of occurrence of Medication errors and the variables that are associated with the presentation in a first level hospital. Materials and Methods. Descriptive observational study in patients older than 18 who were hospitalized between February 1 and March 9 2012 with all diagnoses. We assessed sociodemographic, clinical and pharmacological variables from medical records. We evaluated the appropriateness of the medication for the diagnosis, contraindications, sufficiency and frequency of dosing, route of administration, duration of treatment and legibility of medical records of formulation. Results. We evaluated 96 patients, average age 59.7±18.8, male predominance (53.1%), average 2.8±1.2 days of hospitalization. The most frequent medication errors were missing record of length formulation (97.3%), no description of the drug presentation (72.1%), lack registration route of administration (29.9%), inadequate dose (9.8%), insufficient dose (8.2%), medication contraindicated (3.9%). Conclusions. The hospital prescription system should be improved with the addition of safer practices, continuing medical education programs, warning of interactions and reorganization of procedures for patient care.

Keywords : Medication errors; epidemiological surveillance; Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems; Drug interactions; pharmacovigilance.

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