Prescribing errors for high-risk medications in a hospital

Medication errors are classified into prescription errors, dispensing errors and medication administration errors. Prescription errors are the most frequent and those that most adversely impact clinical outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate the quality and safety in the prescription of high-risk medication in a hospital. It was a cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach, carried out through the evaluation of drug prescriptions. The study followed the rules of the Ethics and Research Committee of the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (CEP/UFMS) and was approved by means of opinion number 3,727,522. The high-risk medications most commonly associated with prescription errors were regular human insulin (40.8%), tramadol (21.53%) and 50% glucose solution (13.82%). The types of prescription errors that were most present were the use of incorrect dose expressions (n=529; 38.47%), use of contraindicated abbreviations (n=520; 37.82%) and the absence of time and speed of infusion (n=184; 13.38%). The results found can guide the construction of indicators related to high-risk medications prescription errors in the institution, in order to contribute to the optimization of internal processes and pharmaceutical interventions with the health team, in order to strengthen patient safety and use rational use of drugs in the hospital environment.