[Medication errors in anaesthesia: a review of reports from the French Health Products Agency]

Background: The purpose of this study was to assess medication errors and risks of medication errors during anaesthetic practice reported at the French Health Products Agency (Afssaps) from 2005 to 2010.

Study design: Descriptive study.

Methods: The data are issued of "Medication errors and risks of medication errors" file which group together all cases received by the Medication Errors Unit at Afssaps since 2005.

Results: A total of 263 cases were observed by the Medication Errors Unit at Afssaps. Among them, 159 cases were risks of medication errors, 76 cases were patent medication errors and 28 were near misses. Among the 76 cases of patent medication errors, out of which 47 cases were appreciated with adverse reaction and 35 cases were classified as serious. Adverse events were classified as haemodynamic, respiratory and neurologic events. Most of the errors occurred during administration (65%), followed by dispensing errors (14%), storage errors (15%) or preparation errors (4%). Sixty-nine percent of cases of wrong drug errors were found, followed by 26% of errors of strength, 3% of incorrect route of administration errors and 2% of patient errors. In most of cases, similarity in packaging was underlined (n=83).

Conclusion: This study showed that the majority of medication errors and risks of medication errors during anaesthetic practice, underline similarity in packaging. Results highlighted the importance of vial labeling presentation (readability and mention understanding) in anaesthetic practice.