Abstract
Since there is no detailed hospital based incident reporting system, this study was designed to evaluate the medication errors associated with infusion pumps in intensive care unit (ICU). The investigation was conducted in a Teaching hospital in the form of a prospective, observational study. A sample size of 43 doses administered to ICU patients was chosen to enable reliable estimate of error rates. Any deviation in the IV pumps implication from the guidelines and/or doctor’s order in the charts was measured as the main outcome.
Forty three doses with 258 opportunities for error were observed. Twenty (7.8%) errors were detected, of which 14 (20%) were incorrect dose, 4 (20%) labeling error, 2 (10%) unauthorized medication. From incorrect doses, 8 (57%) resulted in overdose. Benzodiazepines were the most common class of drug involved. We concluded that regarding the infusion pump usage for drug delivery, a large number of errors exist.
Keywords
Medication error Infusion pump Incompatibility Continuous infusion Concentration calculation
Copyright
© 2022, Author(s). This open-access article is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which allows for unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited.