[Medication errors. Preventive measures in neonatal intensive care]

Area of Science:

• Neonatal medicine
• Patient safety
• Healthcare quality improvement

Background:

• Medication errors represent a major challenge within healthcare systems.
• Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) are particularly vulnerable environments for medication errors due to the critical condition of newborns.

Purpose of the Study:

• To revise the therapeutic process in a NICU to identify and address medication error risks.
• To implement solutions for enhancing medication safety in neonatal care.

Main Methods:

• A multidisciplinary team (doctors, nurses, pharmacist) reviewed the medication process.
• Identified high-risk areas included prescription, transcription, dosage calculation, and task fragmentation.

Main Results:

• Increased professional awareness of risks and the importance of standardized practices.
• Computerized dosage calculation successfully prevented errors and enabled personalized prescriptions.
• Introduction of voluntary complaint forms to better understand error magnitude and nature.

Conclusions:

• Standardized protocols and technological solutions are crucial for reducing medication errors in NICUs.
• Continuous monitoring and data collection are essential for refining safety measures.
• Multidisciplinary collaboration is key to improving medication safety in neonatal care.