Evaluation and improvement of medication error prevention in a pediatric intensive care unit.
Medication errors; Patient safety; Nursing.
The medication error corresponds to any event that may lead to inappropriate use of medications and that can be avoided, and may or may not harm the patient. Error statistics are alarming, despite underreporting and the causes of management failures are multifactorial and, in general, related to poorly planned systems. In view of the relevance of the subject and the need to develop procedures that contribute to reduce the occurrence of medication errors, as well as to minimize their damages to patients, the purpose of this study is to analyze the protocol of safety in prescription, use and administration of medications in hospitalized children; and develop a cycle of improvement of medication error prevention in pediatric intensive care unit. It is a quasi-experimental, before-after, non-control study and quantitative approach. Data collection will be performed from January to April 2018, at the pediatric inpatient unit at a large teaching hospital in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte. The population will consist of all medical records of the children hospitalized during the study period, with daily evaluation of the medical prescriptions, checking and administration of medications registered by the nursing team. The sample will be composed of the administration procedures of the prescribed medications. The data will be submitted to descriptive and inferential statistical analysis.