RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 GRP-183 The Effect of a Clinical Pharmacist-Led Training Programme on Intravenous Preparation and Administration Errors in a Vietnamese Hospital
JF European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy: Science and Practice
JO Eur J Hosp Pharm
FD British Medical Journal Publishing Group
SP A66
OP A66
DO 10.1136/ejhpharm-2013-000276.183
VO 20
IS Suppl 1
A1 HT Nguyen
A1 TD Nguyen
A1 ER van den Heuvel
A1 FM Haaijer-Ruskamp
A1 K Taxis
YR 2013
UL http://ejhp.bmj.com/content/20/Suppl_1/A66.1.abstract
AB Background Medication safety has been a concern for decades worldwide, but there is still relatively little research about interventions to reduce medicines administration errors in hospitals, especially in resource-restricted settings such as Vietnam. Our large study on the frequency and type of medication errors in Vietnamese hospitals indicated that the highest risk was associated with intravenous medication administration [1]. Purpose To investigate the effect of intensive training on the frequency of intravenous medicines preparation and administration errors in an urban public hospital in Vietnam. Materials and Methods This was a controlled intervention study with pre- and post-intervention measurements using a direct observation method, carried out in two critical care units: Intensive Care Unit (ICU – intervention ward), and Post-Surgical Unit (PSU – control ward). The intervention consisted of lectures plus practical ward-based teaching sessions, carried out by a clinical pharmacist and a nurse. In each ward, all intravenous doses prepared and administered by nurses were observed 12 hours per day, on 7 consecutive days, each period. Results A total of 1294 doses were observed, 718 in ICU and 576 in PSU. Error rate on the intervention ward (ICU) decreased from 62.7% to 52.5% (P = 0.01); preparation errors including wrong dose, deteriorated drug, wrong technique of preparation decreased significantly (p < 0.05). On the control ward (PSU) there was no significant change in error rates (73.8% vs. 73.1%, p = 0.85); almost all preparation error types were similar in both periods (p > 0.05), except for technique errors, which was increased from 15.5% to 25.9% (p < 0.05). Conclusions Intensive training showed a slight improvement in overall and specific error rates, particularly preparation errors. Further measures are needed to improve patient safety. Reference EAHP abstract titled: “Errors in medication preparation and administration in Vietnamese hospitals”, by H.T. Nguyen et al, No conflict of interest.