Categorizing and understanding medication errors in hospital pharmacy in relation to human factors

Al-Ahmadi, Reham Faraj; Aljuffali, Lobna A.; Alshanawani, Sulafah

doi:10.1016/j.jsps.2020.10.014

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…From a human factor perspective, i.e., considering how humans interact with design and technology, such procedures are rated as weak, due to their reliance on human performance [29]. With staff shortages, multitasking or interruptions as well as individuals' compliance with procedures may deteriorate and lead to errors [30][31][32][33][34]. In fact, self-reported compliance is unsatisfactory in both our and a Dutch study [20].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Implementation status of safety measures to prevent errors with non-oncologic methotrexate: surveys in community and hospital pharmacies

2023

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Background Accidental overdose of low-dose methotrexate can lead to serious patient harm. Different safety measures are recommended to prevent errors, yet, as errors continue to happen, their implementation is questionable. Aim To evaluate the implementation status of safety measures for methotrexate in community and hospital pharmacies. Method An electronic questionnaire was sent to head pharmacists of 163 community and 94 hospital pharmacies in Switzerland. The implementation of recommended safety measures (general measures, safety working procedures, IT-based measures) was assessed and descriptive analysis performed. An analysis of sales data underlined the relevance of our results, i.e., the population under risk for overdose. Results A response was obtained from 53% (n = 87) of community and 50% (n = 47) of hospital pharmacists. Pharmacies had implemented a median of 6 (IQR 3, community) and 5 (IQR 5, hospital) safety measures overall. Most of these were defined safety procedures, instructing staff on how to handle methotrexate prescriptions. Across all safety measures, compliance with single procedures was perceived as “very likely” by 54% of community pharmacies. IT-based measures (e.g., alerts) were absent in 38% (n = 31) of community and 57% (n = 27) of hospital pharmacies. On average, every community pharmacy dispensed 22 packages annually. Conclusion Safety in relation to methotrexate in pharmacies relies mostly on staff instructions, which are considered weak measures. In light of the serious risk imposed on patients, pharmacies should set a focus on stronger IT-based measures that rely less on human performance.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Implementation status of safety measures to prevent errors with non-oncologic methotrexate: surveys in community and hospital pharmacies

2023

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“…Furthermore, it does not fulfill the nurses' needs for a quick review of the most common medications used in a specific unit [5]. Another solution was adding a feature that categorizes the medication into top general common medications or according to a specific disease and not for units or conditions requiring a quick reaction [6].…”

Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…erefore, one of the most related factors for MEs is a lack of knowledge of medications [34]. Other studies showed a substantial positive effect of the number of years of experience on the average score obtained by nurses [6,12,26,[35][36][37].…”

Section: Background and Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One of the many challenges nurses face is when they transfer across units as the medication lists they use also change. is results in a lack of knowledge in medication details, including the right dose, right time, right route, interactions of medications, and contraindications [6]. erefore, this project aims to assist nurses to reduce MEs by providing them with the Nurses Guide application.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Towards an Application Helping to Minimize Medication Error Rate

Alharbi

AlGhamdi

Alturki

et al. 2021

Mobile Information Systems

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Medication errors related to medication administration done by both doctors and nurses can be considered a vital issue around the world. It is believed that systematisation and the introduction of main documents are done manually, which might increase the opportunities to have inaccuracies and errors because of unexpected wrong actions done by medical practitioners. Experts stated that the lack of pharmacological knowledge is one of the key factors, which play an important role in causing such errors. Doctors and nurses may face problems when they move from one unit to another and the medication administration list has changed. However, promoting public health activities and recent AI-enabled applications can provide general information about medication that helps both doctors and nurses administer the right medication. However, such an application can require a lot of time and effort to search and then find a medication. Therefore, this article aims to investigate whether AI-enabled applications can help avoid or at least minimize medication error rates.

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“…This department is responsible for acquiring and dispensing medicines to patients. They need to plan the sequence of processes [12], overcome and prevent an error in the preparation of medicine [13], keep and improve quality control in pharmacy [14], deploy a doctor to supervise the pharmacy department [15], conduct a quality assessment of the outpatient pharmacy services call centre [16], [17], and improve medication safety in general [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimising Outpatient Pharmacy Staffing to Minimise Patients Queue Time using Discrete Event Simulation

Amelia

Lathifah

Haq

et al. 2021

JISEBI

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Background: To remain relevant in the customer-oriented market, hospitals must pay attention to the quality of services and meet customers' expectations from admission to discharge stage. For an outpatient customer, pharmacy is the last unit visited before discharge. It is likely to influence patient satisfaction and reflect the quality of hospital's service. However, at certain hospitals, the waiting time is long. Resources need to be deployed strategically to reduce queue time. Objective: This research aims to arrange the number of staff (pharmacists and workers) in each station in the pharmacy outpatient service to minimise the queue time.Methods: A discrete simulation method is used to observe the waiting time spent at the pharmacy. The simulation run is valid and effective to test the scenario. Results: It is recommended to add more personnel for the non-compounding medicine and packaging to reduce the waiting time by 22.41%Conclusion: By adding personnel to non-compounding and packaging stations, the system performance could be improved. Cost-effectiveness analysis should be done to corroborate the finding. Keywords: Discrete Event Simulation, Hospital, Outpatient Service, Pharmacy Unit, System AnalysisBackground: To remain relevant in the customer-oriented market, hospitals must pay attention to the quality of services and meet customers' expectations from admission to discharge stage. For an outpatient customer, pharmacy is the last unit visited before discharge. It is likely to influence patient satisfaction and reflect the quality of hospital's service. However, at certain hospitals, the waiting time is long. Resources need to be deployed strategically to reduce queue time. Objective: This research aims to arrange the number of staff (pharmacists and workers) in each station in the pharmacy outpatient service to minimise the queue time.Methods: A discrete simulation method is used to observe the waiting time spent at the pharmacy. The simulation run is valid and effective to test the scenario. Results: It is recommended to add more personnel for the non-compounding medicine and packaging to reduce the waiting time by 22.41%Conclusion: By adding personnel to non-compounding and packaging stations, the system performance could be improved. Cost-effectiveness analysis should be done to corroborate the finding. Keywords:Discrete Event Simulation, Hospital, Outpatient Service, Pharmacy Unit, System Analysis

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Categorizing and understanding medication errors in hospital pharmacy in relation to human factors

Cited by 6 publications

References 57 publications

Implementation status of safety measures to prevent errors with non-oncologic methotrexate: surveys in community and hospital pharmacies

Implementation status of safety measures to prevent errors with non-oncologic methotrexate: surveys in community and hospital pharmacies

Towards an Application Helping to Minimize Medication Error Rate

Optimising Outpatient Pharmacy Staffing to Minimise Patients Queue Time using Discrete Event Simulation

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