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Study: 1 in 5 Hospital Drug Doses in Error

A new study focusing on drug “administering errors” was presented in the September 9, 2002 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. The study reports that nearly 1 in 5, or 20% of drug doses given to hospitalized patients were made in error. 7% of those errors were considered potentially harmful.

In this study, researchers evaluated 36 accredited hospitals, non-accredited hospitals and nursing homes in Georgia and Colorado. Error rates were similar in all of the institutions, accredited or not.

In a typical 300-bed hospital and an average of 10 drug events per patient, per day, these figures translate into two drug errors per patient, every day. Using the previously mentioned 7% harmful rate, that means more than 40 potentially harmful drug errors occur every day in the average hospital.

The researchers said their findings support an earlier report from the Institute of Medicine in 1999 that said medical errors lead to more than 1 million injuries and 98,000 deaths every year.

The Associated Press interviewed Dr. Paul Schyve, the Vice President of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). Oddly, Dr. Schyve did not dispute the findings on the error rates. His concern centered around the finding that accredited hospitals (which his organization accredits) seemed to fare no better than unaccredited hospitals.

He said that accredited hospitals may be more prone to errors because they tend to be larger and take care of the sickest patients.

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