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Medication errors as potential discrepancies of pharmaceutical conciliation in a hospital in Ecuador

Abstract:

Introduction: Medication errors, although they constitute preventable incidents, continue to be currently responsible for situations of significant morbidity and mortality, so they are among the main causes of the development of negative events in hospitalized patients. Objective: Determine the prevalence of medication errors as potential discrepancies in pharmaceutical reconciliation in a hospital in Ecuador. Methods: The research was cross-sectional observational. Data was collected and analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics, sociodemographic and pharmacotherapeutic information from selected medical records. 125 clinical records were reviewed with 141 hospital care. Results: In 43.2 % of the study population, 68 (7.08 %) medication errors were committed in the emergency, hospitalization and intensive care unit areas of the hospital, related to 960 drugs The group of elderly patients reached 72.06 % of medication errors; the one with the highest incidence was insufficient monitoring of treatment. The hospitalization service presented the highest number of cases of medication errors (51.46%), followed by the emergency service, none were reported in the intensive care unit. During the transitions of the patients between the hospital services, 8 medication errors and 21 during discharge were identified, followed by the emergency service, none were reported in the intensive care unit, and in the medical discharge 8 and 21 medication errors were identified, respectively. Medication errors were related to drug interactions, probably associated with the absence of the patient´s complete medication registration and problems of lack of coordination between levels of care that, in addition, were accentuated by factors such as polymedication and multiple diseases, a common aspect in older adult patients. Conclusions: It is evident the need for a pharmaceutical reconciliation process that prevents the prevalence of preventable medication errors and constitutes a basic practice for patient safety.