Medical errors are of economic importance and can contribute to serious adverse events for patients. Medical errors refer to preventable events resulting from healthcare interactions, whether these events harm the patient or not. In Kuwait, there is a paucity literature detailing the causes, forms, and risks of medical errors in their state-funded healthcare facilities. This study aimed to explore medical errors, their causes and preventive strategies in a Kuwait tertiary hospital based on the perceptions and experience of a cross-section of healthcare professionals using a questionnaire with 27 open (n = 10) and closed (n = 17) questions. The recruited healthcare professionals in this study included pharmacists, nurses, physicians, dentists, radiographers, hospital administrators, surgeons, nutritionists, and physiotherapists. The collected data were analysed quantitatively using descriptive statistics. A total of 203 participants filled and completed the survey questionnaire. The frequency of medical errors in Kuwait was found to be high at 60.3% ranging from incidences of prolonged hospital stays (32.9%), adverse events and life-threatening complications (32.3%), and fatalities (20.9%). The common medical errors result from incomplete instructions, incorrect dosage, and incorrect route of administration, diagnosis errors, and labelling errors. The perceived causes of these medical errors include high workload, lack of support systems, stress, medical negligence, inadequate training, miscommunication, poor collaboration, and non-adherence to safety guidelines among the healthcare professionals.
Objective. A survey was conducted to explore healthcare professional’s (HCPs) knowledge and attitude towards medication errors reporting processes and systems used in their local hospitals. Methods. There were 696 respondents and the observational survey showed the diverse perspectives of HCPs from diverse professions (doctors, pharmacists and nurses) who are at different stages in their career. The survey results highlighted the deficiencies in the medication safety management process, including the follow-up on witnessed or discovered medication errors, the effectiveness of the used reporting systems for medication errors, the standardisation of electronic prescribing software, and the training of HCPs at the six hospitals on medication safety. Key finding. Only 46% of the surveyed stated that their hospital had a mechanism in place for reporting medication errors and 60.7% of the participants agreed that they would submit reports provided the system is not used for performance management and only those need to know will be able to identify their name. Regarding prescription writing, 51% of surveyed HCPs said they utilise electronic prescribing software; however, the overall usage rate of electronic prescribing systems was 49%, with handwritten prescriptions remaining the option used in the majority of the time. In terms of HCP training, 20% of the survey respondents said they did not receive any instruction or direction in the hospitals on pharmacovigilance and patient safety. Conclusions. The Kuwaiti MoH should build a national electronic incident reporting system and establish standardised rules and protocols for incident reporting that is to be anonymous and of compulsory use by all government and private hospitals.
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.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.