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Table 1 Proportions of the different types of preventable medication harm and overall medication harm

From: Preventable medication harm across health care settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Outcome

 

Preventable medication harm

Any medication harm

Number of studies

Prevalence rate, % (95% CI) *

I2, %

Median (IQR)

Prevalence rate, % (95% CI) *

I2, %

Median (IQR)

Overall prevalence rate

81

3 (2, 4)

99

2.9 (0.02–27.1)

9 (7, 11)

99.5

9.8 (0.24–65.4)

Healthcare system:

 - General hospital or internal medicine

29

2 (1, 2)

98.4

1.6 (1.2–2.2)

5 (4, 7)

99.0

5.1 (3.2–10.9)

 - Emergency department

12

5 (2, 12)

99.7

5.2 (2.1–12)

9.3 (4, 21)

99.8

6.2 (6.0–14)

 - ICU

6

7 (4, 12)

91.1

6.8 (3.9–11.6)

14 (8, 23)

95.6

16.4 (9.5–20.2)

 - Highly specialised care or surgical

13

6 (3, 11)

98.7

5.4 (3.0–9.7)

18 (11, 26)

99.3

22.9 (17.8–26.2)

 - Paediatric

9

1 (0, 2)

94.9

1.1 (0.1–2.1)

5 (2, 10)

99.2

5 (2.4–14.3)

 - Elderly

7

11 (7, 15)

95.9

10.7 (7.2–15.4)

23 (13, 37)

99.1

24.8 (16–31.3)

 - Primary care

4

1 (1, 2)

84.9

1.2 (1–1.9)

10 (6, 16)

99.0

9.9 (8–13.9)

 - Psychiatric

1

1 (1, 2)

NA

NA

10 (9, 12)

NA

NA

Severity of preventable harm:

 - Mild

NA

39 (28, 51), n = 20

96.4

40 (21–49)

50 (44, 56), n = 47

98

46.9 (35.9–63.1)

 - Moderate

NA

40 (31, 49), n = 22

93.6

36.5 (28.1–54.4)

41 (36, 47), n = 54

98

37.3 (24.7–53.3)

 - Severe/life-threatening

NA

26 (15, 37), n = 28

97

19.5 (8–40)

14 (10, 19), n = 55

98

10 (6.4–18.6)

Stages of medication useβ:

 1. Prescribing

9

58 (42, 73), n = 9

94

55.8 (35.4–77.3)

64 (34, 84), n = 18

98.5

52 (36–79)

 2. Transcribing/documenting

8

3 (0, 9), n = 8

78

0.9 (0–6.3)

6 (1, 14), n = 17

89

2 (0.5–9)

 3. Dispensing

6

2 (0, 6), n = 6

47

3.8 (0.9–4.1)

8 (2, 24), n = 15

69%

5.6 (1.3–8)

 4. Administering

15

21 (11, 33), n = 15

93

20.8 (8.8–31.1)

25 (12, 40), n = 32

96.8

19 (7.6–30)

 5. Monitoring

8

47 (21, 73), n = 8

99

54.9 (25.3–76)

54 (16, 82), n = 15

100

35 (15–70)

  1. *Freeman-Tukey double arcsine transformation was used for the prevalence rate calculations
  2. βStages of medication use follow the using the USA’s Pharmacopeia 5 major steps