Medication Errors of Intravenous Therapy in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a Second-Level Hospital in Southeastern Mexico

This study aimed to determine and measure the frequency of intravenous (IV) medication errors and identify clues to their causes in neonatology ward of a Mexican hospital. A prospective study was conducted by using the direct observational method to describe IV medication errors. A total number of 799 errors were identified. Of those, 44.3% had errors related to their administration and 29.4% were associated with their preparation. The most common type of error was the incorrect administration rate. Most of the documented events would not have caused patient harm (NCC MERP category C). It was found that the human factor had the highest rate of error. These results showed that IV procedures should be abided by, and these needs the inclusion of clinical pharmacists and communication between all health-care professionals, which can help to decrease these errors and improve the safety of medication use and the quality of patient care.