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Types and severity of medication errors in Iran; a review of the current literature

Ava Mansouri1, Alireza Ahmadvand, Molouk Hadjibabaie

  • 1Faculty of Pharmacy, and Research Center for Rational Use of Drugs, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. hajibaba@tums.ac.ir.

Daru : Journal of Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences
|June 22, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Medication errors (ME) are a major patient safety concern. This review highlights significant variations in ME prevalence in Iran, likely due to study quality issues, with administration errors being most common.

Area of Science:

  • Healthcare Quality and Safety
  • Clinical Pharmacy
  • Patient Safety Research

Background:

  • Medication errors (ME) are a leading cause of preventable adverse drug events, impacting patient safety.
  • Reliable ME prevalence data is crucial for healthcare system evaluation, but studies from developing nations like Iran are often inadequate.
  • Existing research presents wide variations in ME estimations, decreasing reliability.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To systematically review and analyze existing literature on medication errors in Iran.
  • To clarify the current status and identify patterns of ME across different drug delivery stages.
  • To assess the quality and identify research gaps in ME studies conducted in Iran.

Main Methods:

  • A comprehensive literature search was conducted across major international (Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, CINAHL, EBSCOHOST) and Persian (IranMedex, SID) databases up to October 2012.
  • Included studies focused on prescription, transcription, dispensing, and administration errors in adult and pediatric populations.
  • Data on ME types, definitions, and severity were extracted and classified by drug delivery stages.

Main Results:

  • Eighteen studies (11 Persian, 7 English), all cross-sectional and hospital-based, were included.
  • Nursing staff and students were the most studied populations.
  • Administration errors showed the highest prevalence (14.3%-70.0%), followed by prescribing (29.8%-47.8%), transcribing (10.0%-51.8%), and dispensing errors (11.3%-33.6%).
  • Most studies lacked overall ME frequency reporting and focused on specific error types.
  • Only three studies reported on ME severity, and no follow-up or repeated studies were identified.

Conclusions:

  • Medication error research in Iran is nascent, characterized by a limited number of publications and short study durations.
  • The wide range of reported ME prevalence suggests potential issues with study quality, including diverse definitions, methodologies, and populations.
  • Further research is recommended to investigate ME sources, address underreporting, and develop effective preventive strategies in Iran.

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