The utility of the records medical: factors associated with the medication errors in chronic disease

This study describes the development of the medication history of the medical records to measure factors associated with medication errors among chronic diseases patients in Diamantina, Minas Gerais.

retrospective, descriptive observational study of secondary data, through the review of medical records of hypertensive and diabetic patients, from March to October 2016.

The patients the mean age of patient was 62.1 ± 14.3 years. The number of basic nursing care (95.5%) prevailed and physician consultations were 82.6%. Polypharmacy was recorded in 54% of sample, and review of the medication lists by a pharmacist revealed that 67.0% drug included at least one risk. The most common risks were: drug-drug interaction (57.8%), renal risk (29.8%), risk of falling (12.9%) and duplicate therapies (11.9%). Factors associated with medications errors history were chronic diseases and polypharmacy, that persisted in multivariate analysis, with adjusted RP chronic diseases, diabetes RP 1.55 (95%IC 1.04-1.94), diabetes/hypertension RP 1.6 (95%CI 1.09-1.23) and polypharmacy RP 1.61 (95%IC 1.41-1.85), respectively.

Medication errors are known to compromise patient safety. This has led to the suggestion that medication reconciliation an entry point into the systems health, ongoing care coordination and a person focused approach for people and their families.