Investigation of medication errors in a tertiary care hospitals in the Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Medication errors (MEs) have been defined as “any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication or patient harm when the medication is in the control of the health care professional, patient, or consumer.” AIM: The aim of this study is to identify, analyze, and compare the common types of errors encountered in prescriptions, as well as the factors associated with the root causes of these errors, in a large tertiary hospital in the Qassim region of Saudi Arabia. METHODS: The design used is a retrospective cross-sectional analysis conducted in tertiary care hospitals in the Al-Qassim region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. MEs were reported by nurses, pharmacist, and physicians through “hospital-based incident medication error reports” collected from January 2016 to December 2016. RESULTS: During the study period, 2123 MEs were reported for 213,489 prescriptions, of which 1282 (60.38%) were errors by a physician followed by nurses and then pharmacists. Analysis of the outcome of error types revealed that error types B and C were the most common, with only few type A errors identified (0.14%). The most common type of error was incomplete data (34.27%) followed by prescription in illegible handwriting (14.88%). The least common ME was prescription of the wrong strength (0.17%). CONCLUSION: This study revealed multiple prescription errors across 213,489 prescriptions, most commonly originating with physicians. The incidence of serious errors was low at 0.14%, and the major outcome of prescription errors was “Near miss.” “Incomplete data” and “Illegible handwriting” were the most common types of MEs detected. Despite the low number of MEs recorded during the study period, some of the errors were indeed serious. Based on the findings of this study, policy-makers should consider strategies for increasing efficiency in the hospital setting.