2023 journal article
Error reporting in a large animal veterinary teaching hospital identifies medication errors occur most often in the prescribing phase of therapy
JAVMA-JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, 262(3).
author keywords: medication errors; error reporting; decentralized pharmacist; medical error; large animal
open access via avmajournals.avma.org (publisher PDF)
UN Sustainable Development Goal Categories
3. Good Health and Well-being
(OpenAlex)
Source: Web Of Science
Added: November 4, 2024
Abstract OBJECTIVE To identify the rate at which medication errors occurred over a 2-year period in a large animal veterinary teaching hospital and describe the types of errors that occurred. SAMPLE 226 medication errors over 6,155 large animal visits occurred during the study period. Multiple errors may have affected the same patient. METHODS Medication error reports from March 1, 2021, to March 31, 2023, were reviewed retrospectively and classified by species, type of drug, and month and day of the week the error occurred. Errors were categorized according to multiple previously developed systems to allow for comparison to other studies. RESULTS 226 medication errors occurred over 6,155 patient visits in a 2-year period: 57.5% (130/226) were identified by a dedicated large animal pharmacist, and 64.2% (145/226) of errors were identified and corrected before reaching the patient. Prescription/medication order errors (58.4% [132/226]) occurred significantly more often than errors in medication preparation (21.7% [49/226]; P < .001) and administration (19.6%; P < .001). Antibiotics (48.7% [110/226]) and NSAIDs (17.7% [40/226]) were the drug classes most involved in errors. CLINICAL RELEVANCE Most medication errors in this study occurred in the ordering/prescribing phase. This is similar to reports in human medicine, where standardized medication error reporting strategies exist. Developing and applying similar strategies in veterinary medicine may improve patient safety and outcome.