Safe Care for Pediatric Patients: A Scoping Review Across Multiple Health Care Settings

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Patient Safety
• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Iatrogenic Harm Research

Background:

• Children aged 0-18 years exhibit unique vulnerabilities in healthcare settings.
• Pediatric-specific challenges compound general healthcare risks for young patients.
• Iatrogenic harm remains a critical concern across diverse pediatric healthcare environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and describe the vulnerabilities of pediatric patients (0-18 years) to iatrogenic harm.
• To review existing literature on patient safety concerns and interventions in pediatric care.
• To categorize and analyze primary studies related to pediatric patient safety from 1991-2012.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive scoping review of six databases was conducted.
• Searched literature published between 1991 and 2012.
• Included 388 primary studies, categorizing them by patient safety issues and interventions.

Main Results:

• Medication errors (48.7%) and general medical errors (20.9%) were the most prevalent issues.
• A significant portion of studies (53.1%) focused on healthcare systems and technologies.
• Patient safety interventions were evaluated in 15.5% of the studies.

Conclusions:

• Medication and general medical errors represent major patient safety risks for children.
• Further research is required to standardize definitions and improve the comparability of patient safety findings.
• Enhanced focus on healthcare systems, technologies, and caregiver perspectives is needed to bolster pediatric patient safety.