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Abstract
Background: The emergency ward is a potentially challenging environment with a high risk
of medication errors. Worldwide, the annual estimated cost associated with medication errors
is around 42 billion USD.
Objective: This study was aimed at assessing medication errors and associated factors in adult
patients admitted to the emergency ward at the University of Gondar Compressive Specialized
Hospital (UoGCSH), North West Ethiopia.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from June 1, 2022, to August 30, 2022. The
tool used to assess medication errors was adapted from one used by the Swiss Sentinel
Surveillance Network (Sentinella) to identify medication errors, a medication error tracking
tool prepared by the California Health Care Foundation, and a model form for reporting
medication errors recommended by WHO. Data was entered into EpiData Manager 4.6.0.0 for
clearing and exported to SPSS version 24 to analyze and draw an association. The level of
significance of the study was kept at a P-value of 0.05 with a 95% confidence interval.
Result: Medication errors (MEs) were found in (74.4%) of study participants. The median
number of ME per patient was 1(IQR: 1-2). The number of MEs per 100 medication orders
was 28.2. The most frequent type of ME was omitted dose (26.27%). Frusemide was the most
common medication involved in ME (10.08%). There were 491 ME identified, with 97.75%
not intercepted before reaching the patient. The most common patient outcome that result from
ME was potentially moderate harm (38.9%). Patients are more likely to develop ME due to
communication factors (39.77%), while staff tend to develop ME because of behavioral factors
(55.15%). Among organizational factors, work load (68.67%) was the most prevalent factor
identified. Health care professionals accepted (77.84%) of the interventions given by clinical
pharmacists. In the multivariable analysis, hospital stay ? 6 days (AOR: 3.389 95%CI: 1.823–
6.302, p=0.000), polypharmacy (AOR: 3.662, 95%CI: 1.679–8.001 p=0.001), and prescribed
medication-ceftriaxone (AOR: 3.325, 95%CI: 1.668–6.834, p=0.001) had shown statistically
significant associations with medication errors.
Conclusion and Recommendation: There was a high prevalence of medication errors. Dose
omission was the most frequent type of ME encountered, and the administration stage of ME
was observed in the majority of patients. The most common personnel responsible for MEs
were prescribers. The most prevalent outcomes of medication errors were potentially moderate
harms. Starting medications was the most frequent type of intervention given by clinical
pharmacists. And the majority of interventions were accepted. In the emergency ward at
UoGCSH, healthcare professionals should be compliant with the rules and pay attention to the
processes of prescribing, transcribing, administration, and monitoring.
Key Words: medication error, patient safety, adverse drug event, prevalence. |
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