Identification of medication errors through a monitoring and minimization program in outpatients in Colombia, 2018-2019

Introduction: The use of drugs may involve the possibility of a medication error that could lead to hospitalization, increased costs related to care and even death. Objective: Determine the prevalence of medication errors reported in a pharmacovigilance information system of Colombia, 2018-2019. Materials and methods: Observational study, based on information from the medication error registry of a pharmacovigilance system that covers 8.5 million outpatients affiliated with the Colombian health system. The errors were categorized from A (potential situations to error) to I (error that could lead to death). Descriptive analysis was performed and the prevalence of medication errors was established. Results: During the years 2018 and 2019, 29538 medication errors in outpatients were reported, with a general prevalence of 1.93 per 10,000 drugs dispensed. The errors that reached the patient and caused damage (type E, F and I) occurred in 0.02% (n = 6) of the patients. Most of the errors were related to the dispensation (n = 20636; 69.9%) and its possible most common cause was the lack of concentration at the time of dispensing (n = 9185; 31.1%). The pharmacological groups most involved in medication errors were antidiabetics (8.0%), reninangiotensin system inhibitors (7.6%) and analgesics (6.0%). Conclusions: Medication errors are relatively rare situations, generally classified as circumstances or events capable of generating the error (Type A error). In low proportion they can reach the patient and cause damage and even death.