Errores de medicación en pacientes ambulatorios de Colombia 2005-2013

Introduction: Medication errors outside the hospital have been poorly studied, despite representing an important threat to patient safety. Objective : To describe the characteristics of medication errors in outpatient dispensing pharmacists reported in a pharmacovigilance system, between the years 2005 to 2013 in Colombia, South America. Materials and methods : A descriptive study was performed; medication error reports from outpatient pharmacy services between January 2005 and September 2013 for a national medication dispensing company were reviewed and categorized. Variables considered included: involved process (administration, dispensing, prescription and transcription), wrong drug, time delay report, error type, cause and severity. Analysis was conducted in SPSS version 22.0. Results : A total of 14,873 medication errors were reviewed, of which 67.2% in fact occurred, 15.5% reached the patient and 0.7% caused harm. Administration errors (OR: 93.61, CI 95%: 48.510-180.655, p<0.001), dispensing (OR: 21.58, CI 95%: 16.139-28.870, p<0.001), transcription (OR: 5.64; CI 95%: 3.488-9.142, p<0.001), medicines for sensory organs (OR: 2.04, CI 95%: 1.519-2.756, p<0.001), anti-infective for systemic use (OR: 1.99, CI 95%: 1.574-2.525, p<0.001), confusion generated with the name of the drug (OR: 1.28, CI 95%: 1.051-1.560, p=0.014) and trouble interpreting prescriptions (OR: 1.32, CI 95%: 1.037-1.702, p=0.025) increased the risk for error reaching the patient. Conclusions . It is necessary to develop vigilance systems for medication errors in ambulatory care, focusing on the prescription, transcription and dispensation processes. Special strategies are needed for the prevention of medication errors related to anti-infective drugs.