Medication prescribing errors among hospitalized pediatric patients at Nekemte Referral Hospital, western Ethiopia: cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE

Incidence and clinical outcomes of medication prescribing errors are common and potentially more harmful in the pediatric population than in the adult population. Hence, this study was aimed to assess the prevalence and types of medication prescribing errors in the pediatric wards of Nekemte Referral Hospital (NRH).

RESULTS

Of 384 pediatric patients included in the study, 241 (63%) were males and 116 (30.21%) of them were aged between 1-3 years. About 241 (62.76%) of the patients were treated based on empirical diagnosis and only 10 (2.60%) pediatrics had co-morbid disease. The most category of medication prescribing error was dosing error 251 (48.6%) followed by incorrect drug selection 98 (19.0%). Being critically ill (AOR = 5.31, 95% CI = 1.80-12.31, p = 0.003), route of administration via IV (AOR = 3.98, 95% CI = 1.85-11.15, p = 0.011) and via IV + IM route (AOR = 2.22, 95% CI = 1.05-9.25, p = 0.045) as well as 4-6 medications per patient (AOR = 3.10, 95% CI = 3.43-12.42, p = 0.012) and > 6 medications per patient (AOR = 7.23, 95% CI = 3.91-21.45, p < 0.001) were independent predictors of medication prescribing errors. Antibiotics were the most common classes of drugs responsible for prescribing errors.