[Medication errors in a hospital emergency department: study of the current situation and critical points for improving patient safety].

Objectives: To determine the frequency of medication errors and incident types in a tertiary-care hospital emergency department. To quantify and classify medication errors and identify critical points where measures should be implemented to improve patient safety.

Material And Methods: Prospective direct-observation study to detect errors made in June and July 2016.

Results: The overall error rate was 23.7%. The most common errors were made while medications were administered (10.9%). We detected 1532 incidents: 53.6% on workdays (P=.001), 43.1% during the afternoon/evening shift (P=.004), and 43.1% in observation areas (P=.004).

Conclusion: The medication error rate was significant. Most errors and incidents occurred during the afternoon/evening shift and in the observation area. Most errors were related to administration of medications.