A Study on the Errors with Intravenous Administration of Drugs in a Tertiary Care Hospital

The aim of the study is to monitor and observe the incidence of intravenous drug administration errors in the general medicine department of a tertiary care hospital. Preparation and administration of the intravenous drugs to in-patients of the general medicine department was monitored by direct observational method. In a total of 329 intravenous administrations, 54.71% of errors were observed in the patient population out of which 74.78% showed at least one error. The results revealed that the flow rate error 45% were more prevalent among the overall study population followed by reconstitution error 26%, wrong mix errors were found to be 23% and incompatibility were found to be 10%. Errors were observed in both intravenous infusions as well as in intravenous bolus injections. Since intravenous administration of drugs have advantages of quicker delivery of drug to the target site via blood, proper care should be taken by nurses and other health care professionals in the IV drug administration. Errors can be minimized by utilising advanced techniques like small infusion smart pumps and automated flow rate infusion set.