Journal of Pharmacovigilance

A prospective study on medication errors in a general hospital

3^rd International Conference and Exhibition on Pharmacovigilance & Clinical Trials

October 27-29, 2014 Hyderabad International Convention Centre, India

S Ganeshan

Accepted Abstracts: J Pharmacovigilance

Abstract:

Aim: The main aim of our study was to identify and evaluate the types of errors and to assess their severity. Materials and methods: A Prospective study was carried out in an In-patient Department of medicine at a general hospital, Bangalore. The prescriptions were chosen randomly which includes patient?s case history, diagnosis, physician medication order sheets, lab investigations and reports of diagnostic tests. Results and discussion: A total of 180 prescriptions which contained 392 prescribed items were collected randomly. Among them 69 errors were identified. Among 69 errors, highest no. of errors (40. 57%) were related to directions, the errors for strength and dose (18. 8%). Errors related to prescribing two drugs of the same type were 2 and constituted (2. 89%). Among 69 medication errors, 8 (11. 59%) errors were under category No error which comes under sub-category A, 60(86. 95%) errors were under the category Error, No harm which comes under sub-category B 32 (46. 37%), sub-category C 26 (37. 68%) and sub-category D 2 (02. 89%) and 1 (1. 44%) belongs to category Error, Harm which comes under sub-category E. The other levels of severity such as error, Death were not identified during the study period. Conclusion: Study concludes that overall incidence of medication errors was found to be 38. 12%. , which is quite high. The study emphasizes the need of a clinical pharmacist to develop the prescription policies, guidelines and in the hospitals.

Biography :

S Ganeshan completed MPharm from The TN. DR. M. G. R Medical University and has 4 Years Experience in teaching in Aditya Bangalore Institute of Pharmacy Education and Research. He has published 8 papers in reputed International journals and presented paper in many International Conferences held in Singapore.