Prevalence of medication errors in admitted patients at the Philippine General Hospital

@#<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>BACKGROUND:</strong> Medication errors are preventable events that can cause or lead to inappropriate drug use. Knowing the prevalence and types of errors can help us institute corrective measures and avoid adverse drug events.<br /><strong>OBJECTIVE:</strong> This study determined the prevalence of medication errors and its specific types in the four main service wards of a tertiary government training medical center.<br /><strong>METHODS:</strong> This is a retrospective, descriptive chart review study. From the master list of admissions, systematic sampling was done to retrieve the required number of charts. Relevant pages such as order sheets, nurses' notes, therapeutic sheets were photographed. For prolonged admissions, only the first 7 days were reviewed. Each chart was evaluated by two people who then met and agreed on the errors identified.<br /><strong>RESULTS:</strong> The overall prevalence of medication errors is 97.8%. Pediatrics had the most (63.3/chart), followed by Medicine, OB-Gynecology, and Surgery (7.3/chart). The most common type of errors identified were prescribing, followed by compliance, then administration errors.<br /><strong>CONCLUSION:</strong> Medication errors are present in the four main wards in our hospital. We recommend orientation of all incoming first year residents on proper ordering and prescribing of drugs, as well as a prospective observational study to determine true prevalence of all types of medication errors.</p>

Hyponatremia and cerebral edema associated with radioiodine therapy for papillary thyroid carcinoma / Journal of the ASEAN Federation of Endocrine Societies

Among the serious complications associated with radioiodine therapy (RAI) for thyroid cancer, cerebral edema is uncommon and has been reported previously in cases of swelling of brain metastases. This case is of a patient with papillary thyroid carcinoma who complained of nausea and vomiting after RAI and was then found unconscious the next day. Laboratory results showed electrolyte imbalances including hyponatremia and cranial imaging only revealed cerebral edema, and she regained consciousness after sodium correction. The etiology of the cerebral edema here is likely multifactorial - due to hyponatremia from hypothyroidism, aggravated by vomiting, copious water intake and a low sodium diet.