| Purpose: Medication errors (MEs) are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, yet they
have remained as confusing and underappreciated concept. The complex pharmacotherapy in
hospitalized patients necessitates continued report and surveillance of MEs as well as persistent
pharmaceutical care. This study evaluated the frequency, types, clinical significance, and costs
of MEs in internal medicine wards.
Methods: In this 8-month prospective and cross-sectional study, an attending clinical pharmacist
visited the patients during each physician’s ward round at the morning. All MEs including
prescription, transcription, and administration errors were detected, recorded, and subsequently
appropriate corrective interventions were proposed during these rounds. The changes in the
medications’ cost after implementing clinical pharmacist’s interventions were compared to the
calculated medications’ cost, assuming that the MEs would not have been detected by clinical
pharmacist and continued up to discharge time of the patients.
Results: 89% of the patients experienced at least one ME during their hospitalization. A mean
of 2.6 errors per patient or 0.2 errors per ordered medication occurred in this study. More
than 70% of MEs happened at the prescription stage by treating physicians. The most prevalent
prescription errors were inappropriate drug selection, unauthorized drugs and untreated
indication. The highest MEs occurred on cardiovascular agents followed by antibiotics, and
vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes. The net effect of clinical pharmacist’s contributions in
medication therapy management was to decline medications’ costs by 33.9%.
Conclusion: The role of clinical pharmacy services in detection, prevention and reducing the
cost of MEs is of paramount importance to internal medicine wards. |