Characterization of notified incidents involving the use of drugs in adult inpatient units

Abstract

Objective: to characterize the reported incidents involving the use of medication in adult inpatient units of a university hospital. Method: this is an observational, cross-sectional, in a large university hospital in the south of the country. We used 1896 notifications from the institution's electronic system regarding medication errors, between 2015 and 2017, in 13 adult clinical and surgical hospitalization units. To analyze the variables, a specific instrument and descriptive statistics were used. Results: medication incidents were related to prescription (85.9%) and administration (10.1%) and involved prescription delay (77%) and wrong dose (7.9%), respectively. Errors were concentrated in 2015 (70.2%), in surgical inpatient units (90%) and information was partially filled and/or incomplete in the notifications (70%). Conclusion: the characterization of the incidents supported the implementation of strategies by the institution's managers, focused on the problem, reducing notifications and improving patient care.