Medication errors in pediatric intensive care unit and measures to improve it.

Abstract

Objective: To ascertain the prevalence of medication mistakes among pediatric patients who are hospitalized to the critical care unit at Fatima Memorial Hospital in Lahore. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Fatima Memorial Hospital, Lahore. Period: December 2022 to December 2023. Methods: 131 health care workers and patients were interviewed and medication errors were categorized accordingly. Medication error was labeled as errors arising in prescribing, administration, and transcribing of medicines by the healthcare staff to the patients admitted to PICU. Data was entered and analyzed in SPSS version 25. Results: In this study, the average age of health care workers was 34.26 ± 9.07 years. Out of 131 candidates, 71 (54.2%) were males and 60 (45.8%) were females. Among them, 36 (27.5%) were doctors, 45 (34.4%) were nursing staff and 50 (38.2%) were technicians. The total work experience was 9.60 ± 5.96 years. The average age of children admitted in ICU was 7.31 ± 3.68 years. Out of 131 candidates, 64 (48.9%) were males and 67 (51.1%) were females. Out of 131 patients, medication error was noted in 27 (20.6%) cases. The most common type of medication error was prescription error [12 (9.2%) cases], followed by administration error [8 (6.1%)] and transcription error [7 (5.3%)]. Conclusion: The occurrence of medication error is although less in local setting, but not negligible. So further trials should be done and interventions should be made to lessen don the medication errors.