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Medication errors during simulated paediatric resuscitations: a prospective, observational human reliability analysis.

ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION:Medication errors during paediatric resuscitation are thought to be common. However, there is little evidence about the individual process steps that contribute to such medication errors in this context. OBJECTIVES:To describe the incidence, nature and severity of medication errors in simulated paediatric resuscitations, and to employ human reliability analysis to understand the contribution of discrepancies in individual process steps to the occurrence of these errors. METHODS:We conducted a prospective observational study of simulated resuscitations subjected to video microanalysis, identification of medication errors, severity assessment and human reliability analysis in a large English teaching hospital. Fifteen resuscitation teams of two doctors and two nurses each conducted one of two simulated paediatric resuscitation scenarios. RESULTS:At least one medication error was observed in every simulated case, and a large magnitude (>25% discrepant) or clinically significant error in 11 of 15 cases. Medication errors were observed in 29% of 180 simulated medication administrations, 40% of which considered to be moderate or severe. These errors were the result of 884 observed discrepancies at a number of steps in the drug ordering, preparation and administration stages of medication use, 8% of which made a major contribution to a resultant medication error. Most errors were introduced by discrepancies during drug preparation and administration. CONCLUSIONS:Medication errors were common with a considerable proportion likely to result in patient harm. There is an urgent need to optimise existing systems and to commission research into new approaches to increase the reliability of human interactions during administration of medication in the paediatric emergency setting.

SUBMITTER: Appelbaum N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6886970 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:IntroductionThe effect of patient position and patient cooperation on the accuracy of emergency weight estimation systems has not been evaluated previously. The objective of this study was to evaluate weight estimation accuracy of the Broselow tape, the PAWPER XL tape, the Mercy method, and a custom-designed mobile phone App in a variety of realistic simulated paediatric emergencies.MethodsThis was a prospective study in which 32 emergency medicine volunteers participated in eight simulations of common paediatric emergency conditions, using children models. The participants used each of the four methods to estimate the children's weight. The accuracy of and time taken for the weight estimations were evaluated for each method. A regression analysis determined the effects of patient position and cooperation on weight estimation accuracy. Evaluation of subgroups of best-performers and worst-performers among the participants provided information on the effects of human user-error on weight estimation accuracy.ResultsThe Broselow tape, Mercy method, App and the PAWPER XL tape achieved percentages of weight estimation within 10% of actual weight in 47.7, 57.3, 68.1, and 73.0% of estimations, respectively. Patient position and cooperation strongly impacted the accuracy of the Broselow tape, had a minimal effect on the Mercy method and the App, and had no effect on the PAWPER XL tape. The best performing participants achieved very high accuracy with all methods except the Broselow tape.DiscussionThe Mercy method, the App, and the PAWPER XL tape achieved exceptionally high accuracy even in uncooperative and sub-optimally positioned children when used by the best-performing participants. Human error, from inexperience and inadequate training, had the most significant impact on accuracy. The Mercy method was the most subject to human error, and the PAWPER XL tape, the least. Adequate training in using weight estimation systems is essential for paediatric patient safety.

Project description:ImportanceMedication errors are a leading cause of injury and avoidable harm, affecting millions of people worldwide each year. Children are particularly susceptible to medication errors, but innovative interventions for the prevention of these errors in prehospital emergency care are lacking.ObjectiveTo assess the efficacy of an evidence-based mobile app in reducing the occurrence of medication errors compared with conventional preparation methods during simulated pediatric out-of-hospital cardiac arrest scenarios.Design, setting, and participantsThis nationwide, open-label, multicenter, randomized clinical trial was conducted at 14 emergency medical services centers in Switzerland from September 3, 2019, to January 21, 2020. The participants were 150 advanced paramedics with drug preparation autonomy. Each participant was exposed to a 20-minute, standardized, fully video-recorded, realistic pediatric out-of-hospital cardiac arrest cardiopulmonary resuscitation scenario concerning an 18-month-old child. Participants were tested on sequential preparations of 4 intravenous emergency drugs of varying degrees of preparation difficulty (epinephrine, midazolam, 10% dextrose, and sodium bicarbonate).InterventionParticipants were randomized (1:1 ratio) to the support of an app designed to assist with pediatric drug preparation (intervention; n = 74) or to follow conventional drug preparation methods without assistance (control; n = 76).Main outcomes and measuresThe primary outcome was the rate of medication errors, defined as a failure in drug preparation according to predefined, expert consensus-based criteria. Logistic regression models with mixed effects were used to assess the effect of the app on binary outcomes. Secondary outcomes included times to drug preparation and delivery, assessed with linear regression models with mixed effects.ResultsIn total, 150 advanced paramedics (mean [SD] age, 35.6 [7.2] years; 101 men [67.3%]; mean [SD] time since paramedic certification, 8.0 [6.2] years) participated in the study and completed 600 drug preparations. Of 304 preparations delivered using the conventional method, 191 (62.8%; 95% CI, 57.1%-68.3%) were associated with medication errors compared with 17 of 296 preparations delivered using the app (5.7%; 95% CI, 3.4%-9.0%). When accounting for repeated measures, with the app, the proportion of medication errors decreased in absolute terms by 66.5% (95% CI, 32.6%-83.8%; P < .001), the mean time to drug preparation decreased by 40 seconds (95% CI, 23-57 seconds; P < .001), and the mean time to drug delivery decreased by 47 seconds (95% CI, 27-66 seconds; P < .001). The risk of medication errors varied across drugs with conventional methods (19.7%-100%) when compared with the app (4.1%-6.8%).Conclusions and relevanceCompared with conventional methods, the use of a mobile app significantly decreased the rate of medication errors and time to drug delivery for emergency drug preparation in a prehospital setting. Dedicated mobile apps have the potential to improve medication safety and change practices in pediatric emergency medicine.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03921346.

Project description:BackgroundNurses are frequently interrupted during medication verification and administration; however, few interventions exist to mitigate resulting errors, and the impact of these interventions on medication safety is poorly understood.ObjectiveThe study objectives were to (A) assess the effects of interruptions on medication verification and administration errors, and (B) design and test the effectiveness of targeted interventions at reducing these errors.MethodsThe study focused on medication verification and administration in an ambulatory chemotherapy setting. A simulation laboratory experiment was conducted to determine interruption-related error rates during specific medication verification and administration tasks. Interventions to reduce these errors were developed through a participatory design process, and their error reduction effectiveness was assessed through a postintervention experiment.ResultsSignificantly more nurses committed medication errors when interrupted than when uninterrupted. With use of interventions when interrupted, significantly fewer nurses made errors in verifying medication volumes contained in syringes (16/18; 89% preintervention error rate vs 11/19; 58% postintervention error rate; p=0.038; Fisher's exact test) and programmed in ambulatory pumps (17/18; 94% preintervention vs 11/19; 58% postintervention; p=0.012). The rate of error commission significantly decreased with use of interventions when interrupted during intravenous push (16/18; 89% preintervention vs 6/19; 32% postintervention; p=0.017) and pump programming (7/18; 39% preintervention vs 1/19; 5% postintervention; p=0.017). No statistically significant differences were observed for other medication verification tasks.ConclusionsInterruptions can lead to medication verification and administration errors. Interventions were highly effective at reducing unanticipated errors of commission in medication administration tasks, but showed mixed effectiveness at reducing predictable errors of detection in medication verification tasks. These findings can be generalised and adapted to mitigate interruption-related errors in other settings where medication verification and administration are required.

Project description:BACKGROUND:During pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), vasoactive drug preparation for continuous infusion is both complex and time-consuming, placing children at higher risk than adults for medication errors. Following an evidence-based ergonomic-driven approach, we developed a mobile device app called Pediatric Accurate Medication in Emergency Situations (PedAMINES), intended to guide caregivers step-by-step from preparation to delivery of drugs requiring continuous infusion. OBJECTIVE:The aim of our study was to determine whether the use of PedAMINES reduces drug preparation time (TDP) and time to delivery (TDD; primary outcome), as well as medication errors (secondary outcomes) when compared with conventional preparation methods. METHODS:The study was a randomized controlled crossover trial with 2 parallel groups comparing PedAMINES with a conventional and internationally used drugs infusion rate table in the preparation of continuous drug infusion. We used a simulation-based pediatric CPR cardiac arrest scenario with a high-fidelity manikin in the shock room of a tertiary care pediatric emergency department. After epinephrine-induced return of spontaneous circulation, pediatric emergency nurses were first asked to prepare a continuous infusion of dopamine, using either PedAMINES (intervention group) or the infusion table (control group), and second, a continuous infusion of norepinephrine by crossing the procedure. The primary outcome was the elapsed time in seconds, in each allocation group, from the oral prescription by the physician to TDD by the nurse. TDD included TDP. The secondary outcome was the medication dosage error rate during the sequence from drug preparation to drug injection. RESULTS:A total of 20 nurses were randomized into 2 groups. During the first study period, mean TDP while using PedAMINES and conventional preparation methods was 128.1 s (95% CI 102-154) and 308.1 s (95% CI 216-400), respectively (180 s reduction, P=.002). Mean TDD was 214 s (95% CI 171-256) and 391 s (95% CI 298-483), respectively (177.3 s reduction, P=.002). Medication errors were reduced from 70% to 0% (P<.001) by using PedAMINES when compared with conventional methods. CONCLUSIONS:In this simulation-based study, PedAMINES dramatically reduced TDP, to delivery and the rate of medication errors.

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Medication errors during simulated paediatric resuscitations: a prospective, observational human reliability analysis.

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