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Predictors of Medication Errors Among Elderly Hospital Patients
Debra Matsen Picone, PhD, RN, CPHQ*,
Marita G. Titler, PhD, RN, FAAN,
Joanne Dochterman, PhD, RN, FAAN,
Leah Shever, MSN, RN,
Taikyoung Kim, MS,
Paul Abramowitz, PharmD,
Mary Kanak, PhD, RN, APRN, BC,
and
Rui Qin, PhD
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: debra-picone{at}uiowa.edu.
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Abstract |
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Medication errors are a serious safety concern and most errors are preventable. A retrospective study design was employed to describe medication errors experienced during 10 187 hospitalizations of elderly patients admitted to a Midwest teaching hospital between July 1, 1998 and December 31, 2001 and to determine the factors predictive of medication errors. The model considered patient characteristics, clinical conditions, interventions, and nursing unit characteristics. The dependent variable, medication error, was measured using a voluntary incident reporting system. There were 861 medication errors; 96% may have been preventable. Most errors were omissions errors (48.8%) and the source was administration (54%) or transcription errors (38%). Variables associated with a medication error included unique number of medications (polypharmacy), patient gender and race, RN staffing changes, medical and nursing interventions, and specific pharmacological agents. Further validation of this explanatory model and focused interventions may help decrease the incidence of medication errors. (Am J Med Qual XXXX; XX:xx-xx)
First published on February 27, 2008, doi:10.1177/1062860607313143
American Journal of Medical Quality 2008;23:115.
A more recent version of this article appeared on April 1, 2008
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C. P. Schade
Predictors of Medication Errors
American Journal of Medical Quality,
September 1, 2008;
23(5):
405 - 406.
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