[Impact of introducing assisted electronic prescription on paediatric patient safety]

Abstract

Objective: There have been very few studies on the effect of assisted electronic prescription on paediatric patient safety. The objective of this study is to compare medication errors that occurred before and after its introduction in a tertiary hospital.

Material and methods: A quasi-experimental comparative study of medication errors detected before and after assisted electronic prescription introduction. All treatment lines were analysed in order to detect the point in the chain where the medication error occurred, as well as its type and cause. A Delphi study was conducted on the importance of each medication error involving doctors, nurses, and pharmacists.

Results: The study included 166 patients (83 at each stage). At least one medication error was detected in 92% in the pre-introduction phase patients (2.8±2.1 errors/patient) and 7.2% of post-introduction phase patients (0.1±0.4 errors/patient). The assisted electronic prescription led to an absolute risk reduction of 40% (95% confidence interval=35.6-44.4%). The main cause of error was lapses and carelessness in both stages. Medication errors were considered serious in 9.5% of cases in the pre-introduction phase, while all of them were mild or moderate in the post-introduction phase.

Conclusions: The assisted electronic prescription implementation with prescription, validation and medication administration assistance systems significantly reduces medication errors and eliminates serious errors.

Keywords: Assisted electronic prescription; Atención farmacéutica; Error de medicación; Medication error; Paediatrics; Pediatría; Pharmaceutical care; Prescripción electrónica asistida; Security; Seguridad.