An assessment of the basic medication safety practices in Khartoum State hospitals

Purpose To assess the presence of medication safety practices in Khartoum State hospitals. Methods A previously used questionnaire was used to evaluate medication safety practices. The main practices evaluated were the presence of a medication safety committee and error-reporting system, look-alike sound-alike (LASA) medications list, control of concentrated electrolyte solutions, care transitions, information technology, drug information and other medication safety practices. The primary investigator visited a stratified sample from all the three cities that comprise Khartoum State and interviewed the pharmacy supervisor of each hospital. Descriptive statistics were performed using SPSS V.22. Results A total of 41 senior pharmacists or pharmacy supervisors from 41 hospitals were interviewed. Only 2% of the hospitals had a list of LASA medications and 5% had a list of error-prone abbreviations. Only 5% of the hospitals had a medication safety committee, and none of the hospitals had a medication safety officer. None of the hospitals involved pharmacists in obtaining medication histories. Concentrated electrolytes were available in the floor stock in 67% of the hospitals. Although 24% of the hospitals used a computer system in their pharmacy to enter prescriptions, none of these hospitals required entry of patient allergies before entering a drug order. Conclusions Most of the hospitals in Khartoum State did not implement basic medication safety practices. Therefore, the Ministry of Health in Sudan should enforce laws and regulations making implementation of medication safety practices mandatory to ensure patient safety.