Identification of medication errors through a monitoring and minimization program in outpatients in Colombia, 2018-2019

Abstract

Introduction: The use of drugs may involve medication errors leading to hospitalization, increased costs related to care, and even death.
Objective: To determine the prevalence of medication errors reported in a pharmacovigilance information system in Colombia between 2018 and 2019.
Materials and methods: We conducted an observational study based on the records of medication errors from a pharmacovigilance system covering 8.5 million outpatients
affiliated with the Colombian health system. The errors were categorized from A (potential situations to error) to I (an error that could lead to death). We performed a descriptive analysis and established the prevalence of medication errors.
Results: During 2018 and 2019, 29,538 medication errors in outpatients were reported with a general prevalence of 1.93 per 10,000 drugs dispensed. The errors that reached the patient and caused damage (types E, F, and I) occurred in 0.02% (n=6) of the patients. Most of them were related to the dispensation (n=20,636; 69.9%) and the possible most common cause was the lack of concentration at the time of dispensing (n=9185; 31.1%). The pharmacological groups most involved in medication errors were antidiabetics (8.0%), renin-angiotensin system inhibitors (7.6%), and analgesics (6.0%).
Conclusions: Medication errors are relatively rare situations, generally classified as circumstances or events capable of generating the error (type A error). In low proportion, they can reach the patient and cause damage or even death.