OBJECTIVES

: To analyze medication errors (ME) identified in inpatients and outpatients from their oncological treatments and the economic direct savings due to pharmacist ‘s interventions.

METHODS

: From January 2015 to December 2018, a transversal and descriptive study was carried out for all of the medication errors which were identified and documented by the clinical pharmacy service. NCCHERP Classification made by Otero et al., 2003. was used in the analysis. A descriptive analysis was made using indicators of central tendency, depending on their resolution in terms of the modification of the prescription. The software used was SPSS version 22. Economic impact was estimated taking into consideration direct costs related to complications which were avoided by means of the ME resolution.

RESULTS

: In the period, 3538 ME were documented, 3041 (86%) were prevented from reach the patient via pharmacist ‘s intervention, the largest number of documented ME was collected in the hospitalization service 2388 (67%), the outpatient setting registered 478 (13%) ME. Prescription was the pharmacotherapeutic process stage where most of the ME were detected with 2275 (64%) from the total sample. Referring to the root cause analysis, it was found the lack of follow-up of practices and procedure work procedures as the primary cause of error with 1364 (38%). The most involved medications were antibiotics with 665 ME (18%), followed by cytotoxic and cytostatic drugs with 466 ME (13%) respectively. By the other hand, the financial optimization considering pharmacist ‘s actions was $ 786,939.16 USD.

CONCLUSIONS

: In conclusion, pharmacist’s interventions in healthcare system is essential for patient safety in terms of detection, analysis and resolution of medication errors, as well these actions will let optimize the public budget.