Medication errors in anesthetic practice in Brazil - an observational study.

Main Article Content

Julio Brandão

Abstract

Introduction: There is increasing data collection in literature on errors in the drug


administration chain. In anesthesiology, emergency and urgency situations favor


errors in medications, however, it is not yet clear how some factors can impact the


frequency of these errors.


Objective: To evaluate the impact of knowledge of important concepts and


fundamentals related to quality and safety in anesthesia in the practice of safe


anesthesia as a factor to prevent errors with medications.


Method: Observational study with participants of the 61st Brazilian Congress of


Anesthesia. The volunteers responded to a semi-structured instrument with issues


related to the whole process that could trigger medication errors.


Results: A total of 337 volunteers (42.2% of Anesthesia Resident Physicians and


57.8% of Anesthesiologists) participated in the study. It was observed that 50.7%


stated that eventually they had already injected wrong medications, with a significant


difference (p <0.00) between the Anesthesia Resident Physicians (43.6%) and


Anesthesiologists (56%). A greater number of working hours and greater number of


hospitals in which they work caused higher percentages of professionals with


medication errors. Among the professionals who reported they had eventually


administered erroneous medications due to confusion with ampoules , 33.8% (n = 54)


of those stated that they made a formal report of the adverse event with medications


(ARP: 24.1% and MA: 39,2%). 96.9% (n = 155) found ampules of different


medications (or concentrations thereof) in the same drug box (ARP) : 93.1%, MA:


99%) and 65.2% stated they have used the same syringe to prepare more than one


anesthetic medication (ARP 75.9%, MA: 59%).


Conclusions: The percentage of medication errors was significant and it is evident


the need to implement policies that will guide the organization, distribution, allocation


and use of medications in the surgical center.

Article Details

How to Cite
BRANDÃO, Julio. Medication errors in anesthetic practice in Brazil - an observational study.. Medical Research Archives, [S.l.], v. 7, n. 4, apr. 2019. ISSN 2375-1924. Available at: <https://esmed.org/MRA/mra/article/view/1894>. Date accessed: 21 nov. 2024. doi: https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v7i4.1894.
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Research Articles