[Frequency of medication errors by patients]

Abstract

Objective: Analyze the frequency of medication errors committed and reported by patients.

Methods: Descriptive study based on a telephone survey of a random sample of adult patients from the primary care level of the Spanish public health care system. A total of 1 247 patients responded (75% response rate); 63% were women and 29% were older than 70 years.

Results: While 37 patients (3%, 95% CI: 2-4) experienced complications associated with medication in the course of treatment, 241 (19.4%, 95% CI: 17-21) reported having made some mistake with their medication. A shorter consultation time (P < 0.01) and a worse assessment of the information provided by the physician (P < 0.01) were associated with the fact that during pharmacy dispensing the patient was told that the prescribed treatment was not appropriate.

Conclusions: In addition to the known risks of an adverse event due to a health intervention resulting from a system or practitioner error, there are risks associated with patient errors in the self-administration of medication. Patients who were unsatisfied with the information provided by the physician reported a greater number of errors.