[Medication administration errors at an emergency service: knowing to decrease risk].

Objective: TThere is a great potential risk of errors in the emergency services and the studies carried out present heterogeneous results and methodology. The aim was to calculate the prevalence and characteristics, types and consequences for the patient, of medications administration errors in patients who attended the emergency department (ED) of a tertiary hospital, and to propose improvement strategies to prevent them.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of direct observation in the emergency areas of internal medicine and observation of adult patients was conducted in September 2016.