Medication errors, adverse drug complications occur in 1 out of 2 surgeries: study

Studies have shown that most post-op patients regularly get the wrong prescription medication which causes them harm.

The study was done in at least 275 operations performed at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and will be posted in the journal Anesthesiology. It determined the occurrence rate of medication errors and adverse drug effects of patients before, during and after their surgical operations.

The researchers found human error or adverse event in 1 out of 2 surgeries and 5 percent of overall drug administrations.

"We found that just over 1 in 20 perioperative medication administrations resulted in a medication error or an adverse drug event," said Dr. Karen Nanji, lead author from MGH's Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, via EurekAlert.

"Given that Mass. General is a national leader in patient safety and had already implemented approaches to improve safety in the operating room, perioperative medication error rates are probably at least as high at many other hospitals. Prior to our study, the literature on perioperative medication error rates was sparse and consisted largely of self-reported data, which we know under-represents true error rates. Now that we have a better idea of the actual rate and causes of the most common errors, we can focus in developing solutions to address the problems."

The study noted major mistakes including incorrect dosing, drug documentation errors, drug labeling mistakes, and documenting the vital signs changes in patients during surgery. According to Health Day, there were medication errors in 124 out of 277 surgeries and 193 in 3,675 medication administrations. It is worth noting that the researchers believe that nearly 80 percent of the errors were preventable.

The researchers also observed operations performed at the hospital from 2013 tp 2014. They found that 5 percent of drugs given improperly results in negative drug events. Overall, two-thirds were considered serious and 2 percent of the erroneous events were considered "life-threatening" while they believe the rest had a "significant" impact on the patient.

The results did not surprise Dr. Nanji. According to Bloomberg, the study highlights the mistakes made during medication and surgery. Medication given during operation is considered to be riskier since prescriptions can be checked by nurses and pharmacists before given to patients in non-operating wards. Dr. Nanji explained that this has something to do with the dynamic and fast pace of the operating room.

"In the operating room things happen very rapidly, and patients' conditions change quickly, so we don't have time to go through that whole process, which can take hours," she said.

According to the authors, the research suggests that hospitals need to improve their safety procedures. Dr. Nanji suggested improving its technology and how operations can be done including implementing bar code scanning systems to provide alerts for doctors.