Studies of medication safety have mostly been undertaken in the hospital setting, but medications are increasingly being taken at home and administered by carers. This systematic review looked at 36 studies relating to the prevalence of carer medication administration errors, the type and prevalence of these errors and interventions that have been used to prevent them.
The authors of Carers' Medication Administration Errors in the Domiciliary Setting: A Systematic Review reported that “The carer administration error rate ranged from 1.9 to 33% of medications administered and from 12 to 92.7% of carers administering medication.” These errors included wrong dosage, wrong medication, omitted medication and wrong timing. Carer factors (such as their age), storage facilities, numbers of medications and other individual issues all contributed to the rate of errors. The authors concluded that “home medication administration errors made by carers are a potentially serious patient safety issue ... The home care setting should be a priority for the development of patient safety interventions.”
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0167204
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