Medication errors among health professionals in Nigeria: A national survey

BACKGROUND: Medication errors are preventable causes of patient harm with significant contributions to adverse drug events but they remain understudied in Nigeria. OBJECTIVES: To estimate the prevalence of self-reported medication errors among health professionals and examine their knowledge of medication errors with the hope of identifying appropriate measures to promote medication safety. METHODS: A cross sectional survey among doctors, pharmacists and nurses in 10 tertiary hospitals. Information was obtained using a self-administered structured questionnaire. Correct responses evaluating the knowledge of prescription, dispensing and administration errors were scored one mark each and the composite scores computed. Appropriate statistics were applied to summarize and establish the relationship between variables at 5% level of significance using SPSS 17.0. RESULTS: A total of 2,386 professionals participated in the study (46.3% nurses, 44.9% doctors, 8.8% pharmacists).The prevalence of self-reported medication errors was 47%. The professional groups differ in their knowledge of all the aspects of medication errors with professional cadres influencing knowledge. Overwork was the most reason for being error prone (59.2%) and only 35.5% had ever reported medication error. 33.4% did not think reporting was necessary. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of medication errors is high among health care professionals in Nigeria. Knowledge gaps and practice deficiencies were identified requiring interventions.