Medication errors at a diabetes management center in a resource-poor setting

Area of Science:

• Clinical Pharmacy
• Patient Safety
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Medication errors pose significant risks, including adverse drug reactions, hospitalizations, and mortality.
• These errors often go undocumented, particularly in resource-limited settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the prevalence and types of medication errors in a diabetic clinic at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Ghana.
• To identify factors contributing to medication errors in this setting.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-methods approach combining retrospective patient folder review (2019-2021) and qualitative interviews with healthcare professionals.
• Quantitative analysis of 264 patient records for medication errors and adverse events.
• Qualitative exploration of underlying causes through interviews with 10 healthcare workers.

Main Results:

• An overall medication error prevalence of 18.18% was found.
• The most frequent error was wrong drug formulation (39.58%).
• Antidiabetic and antihypertensive drugs were most implicated in adverse events (47.83% and 34.78%, respectively).
• Comorbidity of diabetes and hypertension significantly increased the odds of medication errors (aOR: 5.95).
• Factors contributing to errors included large patient populations, low staff numbers, and inadequate drug knowledge.

Conclusions:

• Medication errors are moderately prevalent in this Ghanaian diabetic clinic, leading to adverse events.
• Key influencing factors include patient age, comorbidities (diabetes and hypertension), high patient-to-staff ratios, and healthcare worker knowledge gaps.