Administration Medication Errors in Emergency Department in Level III Hospital

Objective: To determine the prevalence of medication errors associated with the administration in the emergency room of University Hospital Marques de Valdecilla. Introduction: Adverse events related to health care, are increasingly common, it is estimated that between 44000 and 98000 people served in U.S. hospitals die from adverse events related to health care. In 7000 these deaths are caused by medication errors. In Spain the studies speak of similar figures. The emergency services are excluded usually in these studies because of its particular characteristics, but also are well known that these are characteristics (speed of decision-making, not having systems in unit dose dispensing ...) what is expected that mistakes can be produced in larger numbers in emergency services in the areas of Spain hospitalization. Method: This is a descriptive study in which cross-examine a sample of 627 administrations made in different areas of attention of the Emergency Department Valdecilla Hospital, in different time slots, months of the year and days a week. Between the months of January and December 2009. Results: Have detected 119 errors in 627 observations, the most common error is log. Conclusions: We have found a lower incidence of error 2.7%, comparing with other work (10%). While most of the studies reviewed speak of medication errors in general, including prescription, transcription, and administration.