Abstract
Introduction: Medication error reduction has been a focus of pharmacy practice research to improve patient safety, reduce unnecessary hospital admissions and emergency department visits.
Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the extent of medication errors, the adequacy of healthcare professionals' (HCPs) awareness of their significance on patients’ outcomes, medication error prevention and their attitude towards error reporting in six government hospitals to inform the development of a framework for an electronic medication error reporting system to support future practice and training.
Methods: This research design contained qualitative and quantitative aspects. The study was conducted over four phases:
•Phase 1: Medical records, medications errors, system records audit
•Phase 2: HCPs observation study
•Phase 3: HCPs interviews •
Phase 4: Developing a medication error reporting and recording system for use in Kuwaiti public hospitals and effective training on reducing medication errors shared by doctors, pharmacists and nurses.
Results: The study found that pharmacists made the lowest number of medication errors (30%) compared to errors made in the processes of prescribing (44%) and administration (21%). Drug-drug interaction errors were most prevalent in the incident reports at 39%. Notably, (60%) of the pharmacists indicated that they do not double-check the medication dispensed before handing them to the patient. Of the pharmacists interviewed (39%) stated that they double-checked the prescribed medication and found that the most common errors were; wrong dose (16%), sound-a-like medication (16%) and controlled (12%) vs immediate release medications (29%). Medication errors are unintentional. This study found that interdisciplinary staff training was lacking, and clinical vigilance must be strategically enhanced at all points of the medication management process (prescribing, dispensing and administration).
Conclusions: The research findings support the strategic objective of reducing the likelihood and severity of medication errors through appropriate and effective clinical vigilance processes that mitigate risk in the long term against medication errors.
Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the extent of medication errors, the adequacy of healthcare professionals' (HCPs) awareness of their significance on patients’ outcomes, medication error prevention and their attitude towards error reporting in six government hospitals to inform the development of a framework for an electronic medication error reporting system to support future practice and training.
Methods: This research design contained qualitative and quantitative aspects. The study was conducted over four phases:
•Phase 1: Medical records, medications errors, system records audit
•Phase 2: HCPs observation study
•Phase 3: HCPs interviews •
Phase 4: Developing a medication error reporting and recording system for use in Kuwaiti public hospitals and effective training on reducing medication errors shared by doctors, pharmacists and nurses.
Results: The study found that pharmacists made the lowest number of medication errors (30%) compared to errors made in the processes of prescribing (44%) and administration (21%). Drug-drug interaction errors were most prevalent in the incident reports at 39%. Notably, (60%) of the pharmacists indicated that they do not double-check the medication dispensed before handing them to the patient. Of the pharmacists interviewed (39%) stated that they double-checked the prescribed medication and found that the most common errors were; wrong dose (16%), sound-a-like medication (16%) and controlled (12%) vs immediate release medications (29%). Medication errors are unintentional. This study found that interdisciplinary staff training was lacking, and clinical vigilance must be strategically enhanced at all points of the medication management process (prescribing, dispensing and administration).
Conclusions: The research findings support the strategic objective of reducing the likelihood and severity of medication errors through appropriate and effective clinical vigilance processes that mitigate risk in the long term against medication errors.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages | 19-20 |
| Number of pages | 2 |
| Publication status | Published - 2023 |
| Event | FIP Pharmacy Practice Research summer meeting 2023: for PhD students, postdoctoral fellows and supervisors - University of Granada, Granada, Spain Duration: 03 Jul 2023 → 04 Jul 2023 https://fip.eventsair.com/2023-ppr-summer-meeting/ https://pharmacyeducation.fip.org/pharmacyeducation/article/view/2435/1595 (Published abstracts) |
Other
| Other | FIP Pharmacy Practice Research summer meeting 2023 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | Spain |
| City | Granada |
| Period | 03/07/23 → 04/07/23 |
| Other | The FIP Pharmacy Practice Research Special Interest Group (PPR SIG), in collaboration with University of Granada, is hosting an international event — “Pharmacy practice research summer meeting for PhD students, postdoctoral fellows and supervisors” — on 3 and 4 July 2023 in Granada, Spain. The main scope of the PPR SIG is to increase pharmacy practice contributions to global health by providing greater access to the latest high-quality international pharmacy practice research. During this meeting both starting-out and experienced researchers will be able to collaborate on major PPR themes. PhD students and their supervisors, researchers, academics, professional organisations and practitioners involved in research are welcome to join this face-to-face meeting to present their work and to start building new global pharmacy networks. Accepted abstracts will be published in the Pharmacy Education journal. Selected authors will be invited to present their work either through poster or oral presentation and interact with the audience during the event. The best presentations will receive an award. Certificates of attendance and presentations will be provided. |
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