PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Assiri, Ghadah A.
AU  - Alkhenizan, Abdullah HM
AU  - Al-Khani, Salma M.
AU  - Grant, Liz M.
AU  - Sheikh, Aziz
TI  - Investigating the epidemiology of medication errors in adults in community care settings
AID  - 10.15537/smj.2019.2.23933
DP  - 2019 Feb 01
TA  - Saudi Medical Journal
PG  - 158--167
VI  - 40
IP  - 2
4099  - http://smj.org.sa/content/40/2/158.short
4100  - http://smj.org.sa/content/40/2/158.full
SO  - Saudi Med J2019 Feb 01; 40
AB  - Objectives: To investigate the period prevalence and risk factors for clinically important prescription and monitoring errors among adults managed in community care in Saudi Arabia (SA).Methods: This retrospective cohort study used electronic health record (HER) data. A random sample comprising of 2,000 adults (≥18 years old) visiting Family Medicine clinics in King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSH & RC), Riyadh, SA, was selected. Data collection took 3 months (October December 2017). Descriptive analyses and logistic regression modeling were performed using STATA (version 14) statistical software.Results: The overall period prevalence of medication errors over 15 months was 8.1% (95% confidence interval [CI] 6.5-9.7). Risk factors that significantly predicted overall risk of patients experiencing one or more medication errors were: age ≥65 years, male gender, Saudi nationality, and polypharmacy (defined as the concurrent use of ≥5 drugs).Conclusions: Clinically important medication errors were commonly observed in relation to both drug prescription and monitoring.