• Hussain T Bakhsh, Stephen J Perona, Whitney A Shields, Sara Salek, Arthur B Sanders, and Asad E Patanwala.
• Department of Pharmacy Practice & Science, College of Pharmacy, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
• Int J Risk Saf Med. 2014 Jan 1;26(4):191-8.

BackgroundPatients boarded in the emergency department (ED) with psychiatric complaints may be at risk for medication errors. However, no studies exist to characterize the types of errors and risk factors for errors in these patients.ObjectiveTo characterize medication errors in psychiatric patients boarded in ED, and to identify risk factors associated with these errors.MethodsA prospective observational study conducted in a community ED included all patients seen in the ED for primary psychiatric complaints and remained in the ED pending transfer to a psychiatric facility. An investigator recorded all medication errors requiring an intervention by an emergency pharmacist.ResultsA total of 288 medication errors in 100 patients were observed. Overall, 65 patients had one or more medication errors. The majority of errors (n = 256, 89%) were due to errors of omission. The final severity classification of the medication errors was: Insignificant (n = 77), significant (n = 152), and serious (n = 3). In the multivariate analysis (R-squared 19.6%), increasing number of home medications (OR 1.17, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.36; p = 0.035), and increasing number of comorbidities (OR 1.89, 95% CI 1.10 to 3.27; p = 0.022) were associated with the occurrence of medication errors.ConclusionPsychiatric patients boarded in the ED commonly have medication errors that require intervention.

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