Analysis of medication errors in simulated pediatric resuscitation by residents

The objective of our study was to estimate the incidence of prescribing medication errors specifically made by a trainee and identify factors associated with these errors during the simulated resuscitation of a critically ill child.

The results of the simulated resuscitation are described. We analyzed data from the simulated resuscitation for the occurrence of a prescribing medication error. We compared univariate analysis of each variable to medication error rate and performed a separate multiple logistic regression analysis on the significant univariate variables to assess the association between the selected variables.

We reviewed 49 simulated resuscitations. The final medication error rate for the simulation was 26.5% (95% CI 13.7% - 39.3%). On univariate analysis, statistically significant findings for decreased prescribing medication error rates included senior residents in charge, presence of a pharmacist, sleeping greater than 8 hours prior to the simulation, and a visual analog scale score showing more confidence in caring for critically ill children. Multiple logistic regression analysis using the above significant variables showed only the presence of a pharmacist to remain significantly associated with decreased medication error, odds ratio of 0.09 (95% CI 0.01 - 0.64).

Our results indicate that the presence of a clinical pharmacist during the resuscitation of a critically ill child reduces the medication errors made by resident physician trainees.