Prevalence of medication-related incidents in an intensive care unit

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of medication-related incidents in an intensive care unit. Methods: Cross-sectional study that included 116 records of hospitalizations within a 12-month period. The survey instrument was developed based on the study variables and was validated by two experts. The prevalence was calculated by considering the number of exposed hospitalizations as the numerator and the total of investigated hospitalizations as the denominator, calculating a 95% confidence interval. Fisher’s exact test assuming maximum significance level of 5% (p<0.05) was used to verify significant association. Results: It was observed that 113 hospitalizations had been exposed to at least one type of incident, totaling 2,869 occurrences: 1,437 reportable circumstances, 1,418 no-harm incidents, 9 near-miss incidents and 5 adverse events. The incidents occurred during the prescription stage (45.4%) and the absence of information on the actions taken by the health professionals in relation to the incidents was identified in 99% of the records. Conclusion: Prevalence of 97.4% of medication-related incidents was estimated.