Background: The use of medications in the hospital is a complex process which is dependent on the successful interaction of the health care professionals. Intravenous medication errors are one such which compromise patient confidence in the health-care system, increase health-care costs and has high incidence but limited evidence. Objective: The study reports the incidence of intravenous errors in preparation and administration. Specifically, the study was done to explore and measure the frequency of IV medication errors by direct observation and identify clues to their causes. Methodology: The study design is a prospective observational study which enrolls patients given intravenous therapy in the department of general medicine and ICUs in a tertiary care hospital. Error categories were categorized and error rate of drug classes was measured. Results: In a period of 6 months, 161 (N) samples were observed. Five error types (improper aseptic conditions, wrong diluents, improper mixing, wrong dose/volume, and wrong time) accounted for 78.88% of errors. Improper aseptic conditions were the most frequent and accounted for 39.13%. The least type of errors was wrong dose errors-7.45%. The other categories wrong diluents, improper mixing and wrong time accounted for 9.93%.10.55% 13.04% respectively. Conclusion: This study found a high rate of intravenous medication errors of moderate significance. Changes in practice should be considered to make intravenous therapy safer for patients. The findings of this study suggest that it is necessary to engage pharmacists in IV dose preparation and administration.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.