[Medication error rate in the hospital setting: a pilot study at the Jury-lès-Metz Hospital Center]

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Quality and Safety
• Clinical Pharmacy
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Medication errors pose a significant risk to patient safety.
• Accurate calculation of the total medication error rate (TEM) is essential for identifying and mitigating these risks.
• Previous studies have often focused on the overall process, potentially overlooking critical individual steps.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the feasibility of calculating the total medication error rate (TEM) in a hospital setting.
• To identify and quantify errors at specific stages of the medication process.
• To lay the groundwork for future quality improvement initiatives in hospital medication management.

Main Methods:

• The total medication error rate (TEM) was calculated as the ratio of errors to total doses ordered.
• Four distinct phases of the medication process were analyzed: prescription (TEMp), calculation (TEMr), missing doses (TEMm), and preparation (TEMc).
• Error rates were determined for each specific step to provide a granular view of the medication process.

Main Results:

• The drug prescription error rate (TEMp) was 1.92% (n=15,699).
• The drug delivery calculation error rate (TEMr) was 2.7% (n=3457).
• The drug missing before administration rate (TEMm) was 6.9% (n=3457), and the nursing error in drug preparing rate (TEMc) was 5.9% (n=956).

Conclusions:

• This pilot study confirms the existence of medication errors within the hospital setting.
• Analyzing specific steps (TEMp, TEMr, TEMm, TEMc) provides a more focused approach than evaluating the entire process.
• Further multidisciplinary investigation is required to understand the root causes of these errors and implement effective solutions for quality improvement.