Risk and pharmacoeconomic analyses of the injectable medication process in the paediatric and neonatal intensive care units

Objective. To analyse safety risks in injectable medications. To assess the potential impact and pharmacoeconomic aspects of safety tools. Design. The injectable drug process was prospectively assessed using a failure modes, effects and criticality analysis. Criticality indexes were estimated based on their likelihood of occurrence, detection probability and potential severity. The impact of 10 safety tools on the criticality index was calculated and extrapolated to all drugs injected daily. Yearly costs for a reduction in criticality by 1 point (¼1 quali) per day were estimated. Setting. Paediatric and neonatal intensive care units in a University Hospital. Participants. Two paediatric nurses, a neonatologist, three hospital pharmacists. Interventions. Qualitative and quantitative risk assessment. Main Outcome Measures. Failure modes, criticality indexes, cost-efficacy ratios.