Evaluation of intravenous medication errors with smart infusion pumps in an academic medical center

While some published research indicates a fairly high frequency of Intravenous (IV) medication errors associated with the use of smart infusion pumps, the generalizability of these results are uncertain. Additionally, the lack of a standardized methodology for measuring these errors is an issue. In this study we iteratively developed a web-based data collection tool to capture IV medication errors using a participatory design approach with interdisciplinary experts. Using the developed tool, a prevalence study was then conducted in an academic medical center. The results showed that the tool was easy to use and effectively captured all IV medication errors. Through the prevalence study, violation errors of hospital policy were found that could potentially place patients at risk, but no critical errors known to contribute to patient harm were noted.