Characterizing medication safety incidents in surgical patients: a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of incident reports.

Background: Medication-related safety incidents (MSIs) are among the most frequent contributors to preventable harm in hospital patients. There is a paucity of research that explores the factors that contribute to MSIs across the departments of high-risk specialties such as surgery.

Objectives: To characterize MSIs involving surgical patients across two secondary care sites at a University Health Board.

Design: Retrospective cross-sectional convergent analysis of anonymous MSI reports extracted from the risk management system between 1st January 2017 and 31st October 2020 was undertaken.

Methods: Incident reports contained categorical data pertaining to the type and nature of the incident as well as free-text reporter accounts. Categorical data were analyzed quantitatively, undergoing descriptive analysis using IBM SPSS Statistics © software (Version 26.0.01; 2019). Content analysis of free-text responses was undertaken using the Organizational Accident Causation model as the underpinning theoretical framework.

Results: Of a total of 670 incidents, most MSIs did not result in harm ( = 495, 73.9%). Most MSIs occurred during administration ( = 439, 65.5%). Half of the incidents ( = 335, 50%) were related to one of three medication types: opioids, antimicrobials, and antithrombotic agents. Communication failures were the most frequent error-producing condition ( = 39, 5.8%) and drug omission was the most frequent active failure ( = 156, 23.3%).

Conclusion: To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first study in the United Kingdom that reports the medications most frequently involved in MSI reports for surgical patients. Staff in the surgical setting should be informed of the high frequency of incidents involving opioids, antimicrobials, heparin, and other antithrombotic agents as they appear in half of MSI reports in the surgical setting. Further research should explore administration error reduction strategies as well as tools to improve communication between staff to mitigate the risk of medicines-related harm associated with key medications.