Medication Prescribing Errors in Pediatric Inpatients in Saudi Arabia
Author Information
Author(s): Majed I Al-Jeraisy, Menyfah Q Alanazi, Mostafa A Abolfotouh
Primary Institution: King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, King Saud Bin-Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Hypothesis
What is the incidence and types of medication prescribing errors in a pediatric inpatient tertiary care setting in Saudi Arabia?
Conclusion
The incidence of medication prescribing errors was significantly high, with dosing errors being the most common type.
Supporting Evidence
- 1,333 medication errors were found, representing 56% of the total orders analyzed.
- Dose errors were the most prevalent type of error at 22.1%.
- Medication errors occurred more frequently in males (64.5%) and infants (44.5%).
- Approximately one third of the errors occurred in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).
- 81.8% of orders contained one or more abbreviations, which contributed to errors.
Takeaway
Doctors sometimes make mistakes when writing prescriptions for kids, and this study found a lot of these mistakes happen in hospitals.
Methodology
A five-week retrospective cohort study analyzed physician medication orders in a pediatric ward and PICU.
Potential Biases
The pediatric staff was not informed of the study during data collection, which may affect the results.
Limitations
The study was conducted in one hospital over a short period, limiting generalizability and not following up on the consequences of errors.
Participant Demographics
The study included pediatric patients up to 14 years of age, with a higher incidence of errors in males and infants.
Statistical Information
P-Value
0.0001
Confidence Interval
95% CI: 54.2%, 57.8%
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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