ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Errors in the use and administration of medicinal drugs are not uncommon. There is little up-to-date information available on medication errors in Norwegian hospitals. MATERIAL AND METHOD: It is compulsory to report all adverse events internally at St Olav's Hospital via an electronic form. For the three-year period 2015-2017 we have reviewed all medication errors in the database where the reports are stored and compared them with figures from a similar study conducted in the period 2002-2006. RESULTS: Altogether 1604 medication errors were registered, distributed among 1587 reports. Dosing errors were most common (n=1070; 67 %), followed by administration of another drug than prescribed (n=175; 11 %). Most errors were of an insignificant or low degree of severity. There was a preponderance of reporting among the youngest and the oldest patients. 79 % of the errors were reported by nurses. Inattention/forgetfulness (15 %), stress/high workload (12 %), sloppy documentation in drug charts (10 %) and erroneous/unclear prescribing (10 %) were reported as the most frequent causes. INTERPRETATION: The number of reports of medication errors is increasing, but the extent of underreporting is uncertain. The types of errors and their distribution are similar to previous studies. The underlying causes are also well known; the challenge is to prevent these situations from arising.
