Assessment and categorization of medication errors in a veterinary teaching hospital

Medication errors are one of the most common types of errors in health care; however, similar data are limited to veterinary institutions. Pharmacists are not always present in veterinary hospitals. Therefore, all staff members actively engaged in the dispensation of medications must be aware of the high incidence of medication errors.

This study aimed to quantify the amount of and assess the types of medication errors that occur frequently within a veterinary teaching hospital (including both large and small animal patients), identify the specific medications that are most often involved in these errors, and determine whether the inclusion of pharmacist chart review decreases the number of medication error incident reports.

Incident reports between July 2019 and March 2023 and pharmacist chart review documents between September 2022 and March 2023 were collected and reviewed. The total number of incidents was quantified and the incidents were categorized according to the type of error and medication involved. The number of incidents was compared for the period before and after the implementation of pharmacist chart review.

Between July 2019 and March 2023, medication errors accounted for 66% (n = 685) of all incident reports (n = 1031), and of those medication errors, 51% (n = 351 of n = 685) were errors caused by an incorrect dose. Gabapentin, methadone, and butorphanol were the most common medications cited in medication error incident reports. Incident reports containing medication errors reduced after the implementation of pharmacist chart review from 62% (n = 352) to 48% (n = 240) (P = 0.0504).

Although not statistically significant, the results of this study indicated that the inclusion of daily pharmacist chart reviews may lead to a decrease in submitted medication error incident reports, warranting further study.