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Use of Pediatric Injectable Medicines Guidelines and Associated Medication Administration Errors: A Human Reliability Analysis

Jones, MD; Clarke, J; Feather, C; Franklin, BD; Sinha, R; Maconochie, I; Darzi, A; (2021) Use of Pediatric Injectable Medicines Guidelines and Associated Medication Administration Errors: A Human Reliability Analysis. Annals of Pharmacotherapy 10.1177/1060028021999647. (In press). Green open access

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: In a recent human reliability analysis (HRA) of simulated pediatric resuscitations, ineffective retrieval of preparation and administration instructions from online injectable medicines guidelines was a key factor contributing to medication administration errors (MAEs). OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to use a specific HRA to understand where intravenous medicines guidelines are vulnerable to misinterpretation, focusing on deviations from expected practice (discrepancies) that contributed to large-magnitude and/or clinically significant MAEs. METHODS: Video recordings from the original study were reanalyzed to identify discrepancies in the steps required to find and extract information from the NHS Injectable Medicines Guide (IMG) website. These data were combined with MAE data from the same original study. RESULTS: In total, 44 discrepancies during use of the IMG were observed across 180 medication administrations. Of these discrepancies, 21 (48%) were associated with an MAE, 16 of which (36% of 44 discrepancies) made a major contribution to that error. There were more discrepancies (31 in total, 70%) during the steps required to access the correct drug webpage than there were in the steps required to read this information (13 in total, 30%). Discrepancies when using injectable medicines guidelines made a major contribution to 6 (27%) of 22 clinically significant and 4 (15%) of 27 large-magnitude MAEs. CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE: Discrepancies during the use of an online injectable medicines guideline were often associated with subsequent MAEs, including those with potentially significant consequences. This highlights the need to test the usability of guidelines before clinical use.

Type: Article
Title: Use of Pediatric Injectable Medicines Guidelines and Associated Medication Administration Errors: A Human Reliability Analysis
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1177/1060028021999647
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1177/1060028021999647
Language: English
Additional information: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Keywords: administration, guidelines as topic, intravenous, medication errors, nurses, patient safety, practice guidelines as topic
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > UCL School of Pharmacy
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > UCL School of Pharmacy > Practice and Policy
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10124223
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