Evaluation of treatment with Oseltamivir during the 2009 H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic: the problem of incomplete clinical information

During the H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic of 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed more than 14,000 deaths globally; this included a death toll of 147 in Iran. In order to evaluate (a) the appropriateness of the Oseltamivir dose through calculation of a patient's creatinine clearance (CrCl) and (b) the quality of data in the medical charts, we conducted a retrospective study at the Shariati Hospital in Tehran. All admissions to the hospital between the dates 1 October 2009 and 31 January 2010 were evaluated, amounting to a total of 51 patients' charts, including 8 outpatient charts. Of these 51 charts, 26 (51%) contained all the information necessary to evaluate the CrCl. However, there was at least one piece of information missing (e.g. the patient's weight; serum creatinine) from each of the remaining 25 charts (49% of the sample), which made it impossible for us to evaluate the dose. These results demonstrate how crucially important it is to ensure that all the necessary patient information is correctly registered at the time of admission in order to minimise medication errors.