Medication Errors in Ambulatory Paediatric Patient Setting--How Close, or Far, are we from an Error Free Process?

Area of Science:

• Pediatric pharmacology
• Patient safety
• Health outcomes research

Background:

• Medication errors (MEs) pose significant risks to pediatric patients, especially in ambulatory settings.
• Children are more susceptible to medication errors due to factors like dose calculation and administration challenges.
• The medication management pathway (MMP) provides a framework for understanding medication-related events.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify medication errors in children within the ambulatory setting.
• To categorize these errors according to the stages of the medication management pathway.
• To pinpoint high-risk areas for medication errors in pediatric ambulatory care.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (Jan 1991-June 2011).
• Inclusion of studies focusing on medication errors in children within ambulatory settings.
• Categorization of identified errors based on the medication management pathway.

Main Results:

• Thirty articles met inclusion criteria, reporting various medication errors.
• Prescribing errors were most frequently reported (26 studies), followed by administration errors (12 studies) and dispensing errors (7 studies).
• Dose errors were the most common type, occurring across prescribing, dispensing, and administration stages.

Conclusions:

• Medication errors in pediatric ambulatory care are prevalent, with prescribing errors being the most documented.
• Dose errors are a critical issue throughout the medication management pathway.
• Further research is needed to comprehensively review errors at all stages of the MMP to inform prevention strategies.