Observational evidence of the prevalence and association of polypharmacy and drug administration errors in hospitalized adult patients.

Georgios Savva; Evridiki Papastavrou; Andreas Charalambous; Anastasios Merkouris

Study

Observational evidence of the prevalence and association of polypharmacy and drug administration errors in hospitalized adult patients.

May 18, 2022

Savva G, Papastavrou E, Charalambous A, et al. Sr Care Pharm. 2022;37(5):200-209.

View more articles from the same authors.

Polypharmacy is an established problem among older adult patients and can lead to medication errors and adverse events. This observational study concluded that polypharmacy was common among adult patients (ages 21 and older) at one tertiary hospital, with almost half of inpatients prescribed more than 9 drugs during their hospitalization. Findings indicate that medication administration errors increase as the number of prescribed drugs increased.

PubMed citation

Available at

Related Resources From the Same Author(s)

Evaluation of medication incidents in a long-term care facility using electronic medication administration records and barcode technology.

October 5, 2022

Strategies to prevent missed nursing care: an international qualitative study based upon a positive deviance approach.

May 12, 2021

Device use errors among patients with asthma and COPD and the role of training: a real-life study.

September 8, 2021

Prevalence, causes and severity of medication administration errors in the neonatal intensive care unit: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

December 14, 2022

Prevalence, contributory factors and severity of medication errors associated with direct-acting oral anticoagulants in adult patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

January 12, 2022

The effect of a transitional pharmaceutical care program on the occurrence of ADEs after discharge from hospital in patients with polypharmacy.

April 27, 2022

Correlation between the number of patient-reported adverse events, adverse drug events, and quality of life in older patients: an observational study.

November 2, 2022

Impact of pharmacist interventions on medication errors in hospitalized pediatric patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

October 14, 2020

Effect of contextual factors on the prevalence of diagnostic errors among patients managed by physicians of the same specialty: a single-centre retrospective observational study.

February 8, 2023

Analysis of iatrogenic and in-hospital medication errors reported to United States poison centers: a retrospective observational study.

June 24, 2020

Prevalence and causes of diagnostic errors in hospitalized patients under investigation for COVID-19.

April 12, 2023

Concordance with urgent referral guidelines in patients presenting with any of six ‘alarm’ features of possible cancer: a retrospective cohort study using linked primary care records.

August 10, 2022

Use of an electronic clinical decision support system in primary care to assess inappropriate polypharmacy in young seniors with multimorbidity: observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study

April 8, 2020

The impact of introducing automated dispensing cabinets, barcode medication administration, and closed-loop electronic medication management systems on work processes and safety of controlled medications in hospitals: a systematic review.

April 7, 2021

Medicine self-administration errors in the older adult population: a systematic review.

June 9, 2021

Allergic adverse drug events after alert overrides in hospitalized patients.

September 21, 2022

What is the evidence that a pharmacy team working in an acute or emergency medicine department improves outcomes for patients: a systematic review.

November 2, 2022

Patient errors in use of injectable antidiabetic medications: a need for improved clinic-based education.

November 4, 2020

Intervention study for the reduction of medication errors in elderly trauma patients.

September 2, 2020

Prescribing errors in post-COVID-19 patients: prevalence, severity, and risk factors in patients visiting a post-COVID-19 outpatient clinic.

March 23, 2022

Occurrence of no-harm incidents and adverse events in hospitalized patients with ischemic stroke or TIA: a cohort study using trigger tool methodology.

April 20, 2022

Rate of preventable mortality in hospitalized patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

April 1, 2020

Eliciting willingness-to-pay to prevent hospital medication administration errors in the UK: a contingent valuation survey.

February 16, 2022

Development of a core drug list towards improving prescribing education and reducing errors in the UK.

March 2, 2011

Effects of tall man lettering on the visual behaviour of critical care nurses while identifying syringe drug labels: a randomised in situ simulation.

April 20, 2022

Association between mobile telephone interruptions and medication administration errors in a pediatric intensive care unit.

January 15, 2020

Non-conveyance of older adult patients and association with subsequent clinical and adverse events after initial assessment by ambulance clinicians: a cohort analysis.

January 26, 2022

Strength of safety measures introduced by medical practices to prevent a recurrence of patient safety incidents: an observational study.

September 7, 2022

Lifetime prevalence and correlates of patient-perceived medical errors experienced in the U.S. ambulatory setting: a population-based study.

November 18, 2020

Association between limiting the number of open records in a tele-critical care setting and retract-reorder errors.

July 21, 2021

Methods used to obtain pediatric patient weights, their accuracy and associated drug dosing errors in 142 simulated prehospital pediatric patient encounters.

August 25, 2021

Association of dose tapering with overdose or mental health crisis among patients prescribed long-term opioids.

August 25, 2021

Use of an electronic decision support tool to reduce polypharmacy in elderly people with chronic diseases: cluster randomised controlled trial.

July 29, 2020

Clinical deterioration and hospital‐acquired complications in adult patients with isolation precautions for infection control: a systematic review.

October 14, 2020

Patient factors and hospital outcomes associated with atypical presentation in hospitalized older adults with COVID-19 during the first surge of the pandemic.

August 18, 2021

Adverse events in intensive care and continuing care units during bed-bath procedures: the prospective observational NURSIng during critical carE (NURSIE) study.

December 23, 2020

Medication reconciliation during hospitalization and in hospital-home interface: an observational retrospective study.

April 7, 2021

Using Failure Mode, Effect and Criticality Analysis to improve safety in the cancer treatment prescription and administration process.

March 8, 2023

The perception of patient safety in an alternate site of care for elective surgery during the first wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic in the United Kingdom: a survey of 158 patients.

March 24, 2021

Associations between double-checking and medication administration errors: a direct observational study of paediatric inpatients.

August 26, 2020

Associations of person-related, environment-related and communication-related factors on medication errors in public and private hospitals: a retrospective clinical audit.

November 17, 2021

Incidence of nosocomial COVID-19 in patients hospitalized at a large US academic medical center.

October 21, 2020

Challenges and strategies for patient safety in primary care: a qualitative study.

September 28, 2022

Prevalence, nature, severity and preventability of adverse drug events in mental health settings: findings from the MedicAtion relateD harm in mEntal health hospitals (MADE) study.

August 11, 2021

Pharmacist-led intervention on the reduction of inappropriate medication use in patients with heart failure: a systematic review of randomized trials and non-randomized intervention studies.

August 18, 2021

From fable to reality at Parkland Hospital: the impact of evidence-based design strategies on patient safety, healing, and satisfaction in an adult inpatient environment.

February 10, 2021

Effect of a pharmacy-based centralized intravenous admixture service on the prevalence of medication errors: a before-and-after study.

August 10, 2022

Association between language use and ICU transfer and serious adverse events in hospitalized pediatric patients who experience rapid response activation.

August 17, 2022

The impact of medication reconciliation and review in patients using oral chemotherapy.

March 1, 2023

A randomized clinical trial to compare the use of safety net enclosures with standard restraints in agitated hospitalized patients.

January 9, 2008

Impact of opioid administration in the intensive care unit and subsequent use in opioid-naïve patients.

June 9, 2021

Rates of adverse events in hospitalized patients after summer-time resident changeover in the United States: is there a July effect?

August 25, 2021

Medication errors' causes analysis in home care setting: a systematic review.

February 9, 2022

Predictive power of the "trigger tool" for the detection of adverse events in general surgery: a multicenter observational validation study.

March 9, 2022

Outsourcing health-care services to the private sector and treatable mortality rates in England, 2013-20: an observational study of NHS privatisation.

July 20, 2022

Adverse event reviews in healthcare: what matters to patients and their family? A qualitative study exploring the perspective of patients and family.

June 1, 2022

Incidence of adverse events and negligence in hospitalized patients. Results of the Harvard Medical Practice Study I.

March 27, 2005

Advanced medication reconciliation: a systematic review of the impact on medication errors and adverse drug events associated with transitions of care.

June 16, 2021

Feelings of trust and of safety are related facets of the patient's experience in surgery: a descriptive qualitative study in 80 patients.

August 24, 2022

Predictors of serious opioid-related adverse drug events in hospitalized patients.

July 8, 2020

Recognition of adverse drug events in older hospitalized medical patients.

July 11, 2012

Electronic prescribing and other forms of technology to reduce inappropriate medication use and polypharmacy in older people: a review of current evidence.

July 18, 2012

FDA alerts patients and health care professionals of EpiPen auto-injector errors related to device malfunctions and user administration.

April 8, 2020

The burden of opioid-related adverse drug events on hospitalized previously opioid-free surgical patients.

March 10, 2021

Content analysis of patient safety incident reports for older adult patient transfers, handovers, and discharges: do they serve organizations, staff, or patients?

January 8, 2020

Prolonged diagnostic intervals as marker of missed diagnostic opportunities in bladder and kidney cancer patients with alarm features: a longitudinal linked data study.

February 17, 2021

Deprescribing medicines in older people living with multimorbidity and polypharmacy: the TAILOR evidence synthesis.

October 5, 2022

Association of inappropriate outpatient pediatric antibiotic prescriptions with adverse drug events and health care expenditures.

June 8, 2022

The presence and potential impact of psychological safety in the healthcare setting: an evidence synthesis.

August 25, 2021

Preventing medication errors in transitions of care: a patient case approach.

March 25, 2015

Assessment of requests for medication-related follow-up after hospital discharge, and the relation to unplanned hospital revisits, in older patients: a multicentre retrospective chart review.

December 8, 2021

Out of sight, out of mind: a prospective observational study to estimate the duration of the Hawthorne effect on hand hygiene events.

November 11, 2020

Rate of sepsis hospitalizations after misdiagnosis in adult emergency department patients: a look-forward analysis with administrative claims data using Symptom-Disease Pair Analysis of Diagnostic Error methodology in an integrated health system.

May 12, 2021

Measuring safety in older adult care homes: a scoping review of the international literature.

May 19, 2021

Prevalence of Errors in Anaphylaxis in Kids (PEAK): a multicenter simulation-based study.

July 22, 2020

May 4, 2022

Accuracy and safety of medication histories obtained at the time of intensive care unit admission of delirious or mechanically ventilated patients.

April 28, 2021

Human-based errors involving smart infusion pumps: a catalog of error types and prevention strategies.

September 9, 2020

Early diagnosis of cancer: systems approach to support clinicians in primary care.

April 5, 2023

Effect of delays in the 2-week-wait cancer referral pathway during the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer survival in the UK: a modelling study.

August 19, 2020

Undertaking risk and relational work to manage vulnerability: acute medical patients' involvement in patient safety in the NHS.

March 15, 2023

Detectability of medication errors with a STOPP/START-based medication review in older people prior to a potentially preventable drug-related hospital admission.

December 21, 2022

Prevalence and nature of medication errors and medication-related harm following discharge from hospital to community settings: a systematic review.

July 22, 2020

Association of clinical nursing work environment with quality and safety in maternity care in the United States.

November 11, 2020

Providers' and patients' perspectives on diagnostic errors in the acute care setting.

February 15, 2023

Characteristics of morbidity and mortality conferences associated with the implementation of patient safety improvement initiatives, an observational study.

March 16, 2016

Changes to primary care delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic and perceived impact on medication safety: a survey study.

June 29, 2022

The effect of implementing bar-code medication administration in an emergency department on medication administration errors and nursing satisfaction.

October 21, 2020

Cost of adverse drug events related to potentially inappropriate medication use: a systematic review.

June 15, 2022

Barcode medication administration technology use in hospital practice: a mixed-methods observational study of policy deviations.

August 4, 2021

Clinical diagnoses vs. autopsy findings in early deceased septic patients in the intensive care: a retrospective cohort study.

July 28, 2021

A look into the nature and causes of human errors in the intensive care unit.

March 27, 2005

Management and patient safety of complex elderly patients in primary care during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK-Qualitative assessment.

April 14, 2021

Use of FMEA analysis to reduce risk of errors in prescribing and administering drugs in paediatric wards: a quality improvement report.

January 16, 2013

Association of provider specialty with abortion-related morbidity and adverse events among patients having procedural and medication abortions.

August 10, 2022

A systematic review of the effect of telepharmacy services in the community pharmacy setting on care quality and patient safety.

June 30, 2021

Patient safety in primary care: conceptual meanings to the health care team and patients.

November 25, 2020

Failure to engage hospitalized elderly patients and their families in advance care planning.

April 10, 2013

Integrating and evaluating the data quality and utility of smart pump information in detecting medication administration errors: evaluation study.

November 4, 2020

Evaluation of the quality of 'do not use' medication abbreviation audits: a key enabler to successful implementation of audit and feedback.

March 24, 2021

Related Resources

Development of a proactive process to harmonize policy, infusion pump library, and electronic health record entries for continuous infusions at an academic medical center.

September 6, 2023

Patient Safety Innovations

Preventing Falls Through Patient and Family Engagement to Create Customized Prevention Plans

May 31, 2023

Annual Perspective

Improving Diagnostic Safety and Quality

April 26, 2023

Shape matters: a neglected feature of medication safety: why regulating the shape of medication containers can improve medication safety.

February 22, 2023

Latent and active failures perfectly align to allow a preventable adverse event to reach a patient.

February 1, 2023

Improving administration and documentation of enteral nutrition support therapy in a Veteran Affairs health care system: use of medication administration record and bar code scanning technology.

February 1, 2023

Interventions to increase patient safety in long-term care facilities-umbrella review.

January 25, 2023

Accuracy of spinal anesthesia drug concentrations in mixtures prepared by anesthetists.

January 11, 2023

Detectability of medication errors with a STOPP/START-based medication review in older people prior to a potentially preventable drug-related hospital admission.

December 21, 2022

Prevalence, causes and severity of medication administration errors in the neonatal intensive care unit: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

December 14, 2022

Experience of hospital-initiated medication changes in older people with multimorbidity: a multicentre mixed-methods study embedded in the OPtimising thERapy to prevent Avoidable hospital admissions in Multimorbid older people (OPERAM) trial.

December 7, 2022

Preventing errors when preparing and administering medications via enteral feeding tubes.

December 7, 2022

Interdisciplinary collaboration across secondary and primary care to improve medication safety in the elderly (The IMMENSE study) - a randomized controlled trial.

November 30, 2022

Correlation between the number of patient-reported adverse events, adverse drug events, and quality of life in older patients: an observational study.

November 2, 2022

Safety considerations for challenges when using smart infusion pumps.

November 2, 2022

Evaluation of medication incidents in a long-term care facility using electronic medication administration records and barcode technology.

October 5, 2022

The impact of drug error reduction software on preventing harmful adverse drug events in England: a retrospective database study.

August 24, 2022

The effect of structured medication review followed by face-to-face feedback to prescribers on adverse drug events recognition and prevention in older inpatients - a multicenter interrupted time series study.

August 10, 2022

Effect of a pharmacy-based centralized intravenous admixture service on the prevalence of medication errors: a before-and-after study.

August 10, 2022

Patient safety in home care: a multicenter cross-sectional study about medication errors and medication management of nurses.

May 18, 2022

At US hospitals, a drug mix-up is just a few keystrokes away.

May 11, 2022

Artificial intelligence for identifying the prevention of medication incidents causing serious or moderate harm: an analysis using incident reporters' views.

November 24, 2021

Medication reconciliation in the geriatric unit: impact on the maintenance of post-hospitalization prescriptions.

October 13, 2021

Differences between professionals' views on patient safety culture in long-term and acute care? A cross-sectional study.

September 22, 2021

Impact of smart pump-electronic health record interoperability on patient safety and finances at a community hospital

August 25, 2021

Root cause analysis to identify contributing factors for the development of hospital acquired pressure injuries.

July 7, 2021

Interventions to reduce pediatric prescribing errors in professional healthcare settings: a systematic review of the last decade.

June 23, 2021

Patient Safety Innovations

Project BOOST Increases Patient Understanding of Treatment and Follow-up Care

May 26, 2021

Drug-drug interactions and prescription appropriateness at hospital discharge: experience with COVID-19 patients.

April 21, 2021

Effect of barcode technology on medication preparation safety: a quasi-experimental study.

April 14, 2021

See More About The Topic

Hospitals

Quality and Safety Professionals

Geriatrics

Nurse Care

Hospital Pharmacy

Observational evidence of the prevalence and association of polypharmacy and drug administration errors in hospitalized adult patients.

Preventing Falls Through Patient and Family Engagement to Create Customized Prevention Plans

Project BOOST Increases Patient Understanding of Treatment and Follow-up Care

Connect With Us

Sign up for Email Updates

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Observational evidence of the prevalence and association of polypharmacy and drug administration errors in hospitalized adult patients.

Preventing Falls Through Patient and Family Engagement to Create Customized Prevention Plans

Project BOOST Increases Patient Understanding of Treatment and Follow-up Care

Connect With Us

Sign up for Email Updates

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Submit Your Innovations

Continue as a Guest

Continue Logged In

Submit Your Innovations

Continue as a Guest

Continue logged in

New Users to the PSNet site