小児患者への処方，調剤および与薬におけるインシデントの特徴

抄録

Although medication errors in pediatric patients often occur in the healthcare system in Japan, the influence of patient characteristics on medication errors is rarely clarified. The aim of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of medication errors in the prescribing, dispensing, and administration of medicines to pediatric patients in comparison with adult patients. Medication errors that occurred in the prescribing and dispensing of medicines at Hamamatsu University Hospital from August 2010 to July 2011 were compiled. The characteristics of these errors in pediatric patients (under 15 years old) were compared to those in adults (15 years old and over). Medication errors found by pharmacists in the pediatric ward were also collected. The annual number of inpatient beds was 182,284, 5.9％ (10,755) of which were pediatric patients. The total number of pharmacist referrals was 1,089. Pharmacist referrals for prescriptions to child patients accounted for 124 (11.4％). The most frequent pharmacist referrals were concerning dosage for the pediatric patients and administration for the adult patients. The total number of dispensing errors was 984. A dispensing error occurred most often when compounding a medicine for pediatric patients and when counting the number of tablets, capsules, vials, and so forth for adult patients. The total number of medication errors that were found by pharmacists in the pediatric ward was eight. Medication errors in pediatric patients were different from those in adults, and thus the respective countermeasures should also be different.