The Risks and Outcomes Resulting From Medication Errors Reported in the Finnish Tertiary Care Units:
Background: Hospital-acquired medication errors (MEs) are common in health care. Although voluntary reporting is criticized for not producing reliable estimates on ME frequency, it provides valuable knowledge on errors occurring in the medication process.Objective: The purpose of this study was to a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Pharmacology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphar.2019.01571/full |
| _version_ | 1818483092644429824 |
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| author | Outi Laatikainen Sami Sneck Miia Turpeinen Miia Turpeinen |
| author_facet | Outi Laatikainen Sami Sneck Miia Turpeinen Miia Turpeinen |
| author_sort | Outi Laatikainen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Hospital-acquired medication errors (MEs) are common in health care. Although voluntary reporting is criticized for not producing reliable estimates on ME frequency, it provides valuable knowledge on errors occurring in the medication process.Objective: The purpose of this study was to analyze and determine the risks and outcomes resulting from MEs related to the TOP15 medicines in the Finnish tertiary care units from July 2016 to July 2017.Methods: The data consisting of 1,447 ME reports was organized according to ATC classification, after which TOP15 medicines involved in the reports were selected. Inductive content analysis was performed to the reports. After this, the reports were categorized by ME outcome into five categories and further analyzed accordingly.Results: The most common ME outcome in the reports was “omitted medicine” (33.9%). More than a quarter (27.1%) of ME reports were estimated to cause moderate or severe risk to the patient. When compared with each other, none of the outcome groups were more susceptible to high-risk events (p = 0.71). Of the TOP15 medicines, only Norepinephrine had significantly higher risk of being involved in high-risk events (OR 2.43, 95%CI 1.35–4.61).Conclusion: Voluntary reporting has an important role in the development of medication safety and the overall medication process within organizations. Although majority of the TOP15 medicines were involved in MEs resulting in seemingly high-risk outcomes, they were estimated to be insignificant or minor within the reporting unit. In the future, more emphasis will be needed for the assessment and analysis of the reports for more efficient, real-time detection and response to signals from health care units. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T11:55:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7c022379ab974b4ea42e5a7061f99b29 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1663-9812 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T11:55:46Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Pharmacology |
| spelling | doaj.art-7c022379ab974b4ea42e5a7061f99b292022-12-22T01:49:47ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Pharmacology1663-98122020-01-011010.3389/fphar.2019.01571499376The Risks and Outcomes Resulting From Medication Errors Reported in the Finnish Tertiary Care Units:Outi Laatikainen0Sami Sneck1Miia Turpeinen2Miia Turpeinen3Research Unit of Biomedicine, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Medical Research Center Oulu, University of Oulu, Oulu, FinlandAdministration Center, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, FinlandResearch Unit of Biomedicine, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Medical Research Center Oulu, University of Oulu, Oulu, FinlandAdministration Center, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, FinlandBackground: Hospital-acquired medication errors (MEs) are common in health care. Although voluntary reporting is criticized for not producing reliable estimates on ME frequency, it provides valuable knowledge on errors occurring in the medication process.Objective: The purpose of this study was to analyze and determine the risks and outcomes resulting from MEs related to the TOP15 medicines in the Finnish tertiary care units from July 2016 to July 2017.Methods: The data consisting of 1,447 ME reports was organized according to ATC classification, after which TOP15 medicines involved in the reports were selected. Inductive content analysis was performed to the reports. After this, the reports were categorized by ME outcome into five categories and further analyzed accordingly.Results: The most common ME outcome in the reports was “omitted medicine” (33.9%). More than a quarter (27.1%) of ME reports were estimated to cause moderate or severe risk to the patient. When compared with each other, none of the outcome groups were more susceptible to high-risk events (p = 0.71). Of the TOP15 medicines, only Norepinephrine had significantly higher risk of being involved in high-risk events (OR 2.43, 95%CI 1.35–4.61).Conclusion: Voluntary reporting has an important role in the development of medication safety and the overall medication process within organizations. Although majority of the TOP15 medicines were involved in MEs resulting in seemingly high-risk outcomes, they were estimated to be insignificant or minor within the reporting unit. In the future, more emphasis will be needed for the assessment and analysis of the reports for more efficient, real-time detection and response to signals from health care units.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphar.2019.01571/fullmedication errormedication safetypatient safetytertiary carepharmaceutical care |
| spellingShingle | Outi Laatikainen Sami Sneck Miia Turpeinen Miia Turpeinen The Risks and Outcomes Resulting From Medication Errors Reported in the Finnish Tertiary Care Units: Frontiers in Pharmacology medication error medication safety patient safety tertiary care pharmaceutical care |
| title | The Risks and Outcomes Resulting From Medication Errors Reported in the Finnish Tertiary Care Units: |
| title_full | The Risks and Outcomes Resulting From Medication Errors Reported in the Finnish Tertiary Care Units: |
| title_fullStr | The Risks and Outcomes Resulting From Medication Errors Reported in the Finnish Tertiary Care Units: |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Risks and Outcomes Resulting From Medication Errors Reported in the Finnish Tertiary Care Units: |
| title_short | The Risks and Outcomes Resulting From Medication Errors Reported in the Finnish Tertiary Care Units: |
| title_sort | risks and outcomes resulting from medication errors reported in the finnish tertiary care units |
| topic | medication error medication safety patient safety tertiary care pharmaceutical care |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphar.2019.01571/full |
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