• Rikke Mie Rishoej, Anna Birna Almarsdóttir, Henrik Thybo Christesen, Jesper Hallas, and Lene Juel Kjeldsen.
• Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacy, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, J. B. Winsløws Vej 19.2, 5000, Odense, Denmark. rmrishoj@health.sdu.dk.
• Eur. J. Pediatr. 2017 Dec 1; 176 (12): 1697-1705.

AbstractThe aim was to describe medication errors (MEs) in hospitalized children reported to the national mandatory reporting and learning system, the Danish Patient Safety Database (DPSD). MEs were extracted from DPSD from the 5-year period of 2010-2014. We included reports from public hospitals on patients aged 0-17 years and categorized by reporters as medication-related. Reports from psychiatric wards and outpatient clinics were excluded. A ME was defined as any medication-related error occurring in the medication process whether harmful or not. MEs were categorized as harmful if they resulted in actual harm or interventions to prevent harm. MEs were further categorized according to occurrence in the medication process, type of error, and the medicines involved. A total of 2071 MEs including 487 harmful MEs were identified. Most MEs occurred during prescribing (40.8%), followed by dispensing (38.7%). Harmful MEs occurred mainly during dispensing (40.3%). Dosing errors were the most reported type of error, 47.7% of all MEs and 45.4% of harmful MEs. Antibiotics and analgesics were the most frequently reported medication classes. Common medicines associated with MEs included morphine, paracetamol, and gentamicin. MEs caused no harm (74.9%), mild (11.7%), moderate (10.5%), or severe harm (1.3%), but none were lethal.

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