Prevention of Medication Errors in the Pediatric Inpatient Setting

Abstract

Although medication errors in hospitals are common, medication errors that result in death or serious injury occur rarely. Even before the Institute of Medicine reported on medical errors in 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics and its members had been committed to improving the health care system to provide the best and safest health care for infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. This commitment includes designing health care systems to prevent errors and emphasizing the pediatrician's role in this system. Human and device errors can lead to preventable morbidity and mortality. National and state legislative actions have heightened public awareness of these events. All involved persons, beginning with the physician and including every member of the health care team, must be better educated about and engaged in the several steps recommended to decrease these errors. The safe administration of medications to hospitalized infants and children requires additional specific safeguards that are above and beyond those for adult patients. Pediatricians should help hospitals develop effective programs for safely providing medications, reporting medication errors, and creating an environment of medication safety for all hospitalized pediatric patients.

Medication prescribing errors and associated factors at the pediatric wards of Dessie Referral Hospital, Northeast Ethiopia

“…Incidence and consequences of medication errors are higher and potentially more harmful in the pediatric population than in th1e adult population [11]. For adults, the reported incidence of errors ranges from 1% to 30% of all hospital admissions, or 5% of orders written while in pediatrics the number reported was as high as 15.6% of orders [12]. …”

Stimulated recall methodology for assessing work system barriers and facilitators in family-centered rounds in a pediatric hospital

“…Hospitalized children who often rely on their parents and other family members to participate in care are at high risk for a range of safety problems (Landrigan, 2005), including medication errors and preventable adverse drug events (Kaushal et al, 2001). Thus, engaging both pediatric patients and their families during care processes is critical for improving the quality and safety of care (Committee on Drugs & Committee on Hospital Care, 2003). In the inpatient setting, family-centered rounds (FCR) is a complex care process where “the patient and family share in the control of the management plan as well as in the evaluation of the process itself” (Sisterhen, Blaszak, Woods, & Smith, 2007).…”

Application of participatory ergonomics to the redesign of the family-centred rounds process

“…2001). Engaging families in the care of hospitalized children has been suggested to improve the quality and safety of care (Committtee on Drugs and Committee on Hospital Care 2003). FCR provide a consistent venue for family engagement and, therefore, are recommended as standard inpatient practice (Committee on Hospital Care and Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care 2012).…”