Risk factors for medication errors at admission in preoperatively screened patients

BackgroundPreoperative screening (POS) may help to reduce medication errors at admission (MEA). However, due to the time window between POS and hospital admission, unintentional medication discrepancies may still occur and thus a second medication reconciliation at hospital admission can be necessary. Insight into potential risk factors associated with these discrepancies would be helpful to focus the second medication reconciliation on high-risk patients. ObjectiveTo determine the proportion of POS patients with MEA and to identify risk factors for MEA. MethodsThis single-centre observational cross-sectional study included elective surgical patients between October 26 and December 18, 2015. Main exclusion criteria were age younger than 18years and daycare admissions. Medication reconciliation took place at the POS and was repeated within 30hours of admission. Unintended discrepancies between the first and second medication reconciliation were defined as MEA. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with one or more MEA. The association of this outcome with potential risk factors was analysed using multivariate logistic regression analysis. ResultsOf the 183 included patients, 60 (32.8%) patients had at least one MEA. In a multivariate model, the number of medications at POS (adjusted odds ratio 1.16 [95% confidence interval, 1.04-1.30]) and respiratory disease (4.25 [1.52-11.83]) were significantly associated with MEA. ConclusionIn one-third of preoperatively screened patients, an MEA was found. The number of medications and respiratory comorbidities are risk factors for MEA in preoperatively screened patients.