Errors in the administration of antibiotics in the intensive care unit of the teaching hospital

Abstract

doi: 10.5216/ree.v12i3.11935

Medication errors can cause undesirable outcomes for patients, increase hospital costs and impacts on staff. In order to verify the occurrence and characterize errors in the administration of antibiotics, a descriptive study was conducted in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a teaching hospital in Brasilia - Federal District, between September 2006 and February 2007. For data collection patients' medical records were analyzed and observed the nurses who administered antibiotics. We observed 35 patients' prescriptions predominantly female (54.3%), aged 51-70 years (60.0%), in postsurgical treatment (54.3 %), with average hospital stay of two to seven days (40.0%). Ten varieties of antibiotics were found, prevailing vancomycin (28.9%), cefepime (13.3%), meropenem (11.1%) and amikacin sulfate (11.1%). The average antibiotic prescription was 1.2, often at a dose of 1000mg (42.2%) and administered intravenously (100.0%). In respect to medication errors were found such as: prepare medicine error (87.6%), schedule error (6.2%) and others (6.2%). The systemic approach of prevention and analysis of the occurrences of medication errors should be implemented, aiming to establish culture of patient safety that allows continuous ability to manage risks with medications in hospital.

Descriptors: Intensive care unit; Antibiotic prophylaxis; Medication errors; Safety.