PAEDIATRIC DRUG THERAPY II—DRUG ADMINISTRATION ERRORS

Abstract

The incidence of drug administration errors was prospectively evaluated from 1098 drug administrations in 97 paediatric patients. The total incidence of errors was 12·9% in a previous study. An educational programme (lectures and a book on guidelines for drug administration) was offered to nurses in an attempt to decrease this error rate. In this follow‐up study, the total incidence of errors declined from 12·9% to 5·1% (P < 0·05). All types of drug administration errors decreased during this follow‐up study. These results suggest that such efforts can maximize therapeutic benefit and minimize any potential adverse consequences of drug therapy in paediatric patients.