Patterns of medication errors involving pediatric population reported to the French Medication Error Guichet.

Background : Medication error is a global threat to patient safety, particularly in pediatrics. Yet, this issue remains understudied in this population, in both hospital and community settings. Objectives : To characterize medication errors invo lving pediatrics reported to the French Medication Error Guichet, and compare them with medication errors in adults, in each of the hospital and community settings. Methods : This was a retrospective secondary data analysis of medication errors reported th roughout 2013 - 2017. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were performed to compare actual and potential medication error reports between pediatrics (ag ed <18 years) and adults (aged > 18 and <60 years). Two subanalyses of actual medication errors with adve rse drug reaction (ADR), and serious ADR were conducted. Results : We analyzed 4,718 medication error reports. In pediatrics, both in hospital (n=791) and community (n=1,541) settings, antibacterials for systemic use (n=121, 15.7%; n=157, 10.4%, respective ly) and wrong dose error type (n=391, 49.6%; n=549, 35.7%, respectively) were frequently reported in medication errors. These characteristics were also significantly more likely to be associated with reported errors in pediatrics compared with adults. In t he hospital setting, analgesics (adjusted odds ratio (aOR)=1.59; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03:2.45), and blood substitutes and perfusion solutions (aOR=3.74; 95%CI 2.24:6.25) were more like ly to be associated with reported medication errors in pediatr ics; the latter drug class (aOR=3.02; 95%CI 1.59:5.72) along with wrong technique (aOR=2.28; 95%CI 1.01:5.19) and wrong route (aOR=2.74; 95%CI 1.22:6.15) error types related more to reported medication error s with serious ADR in pediatrics. In the communit y setting, the most frequently reported pediatric medication errors involved vaccines (n=389, 25.7%). Psycholeptics (aOR=2.42; 95%CI 1.36:4.31) were more likely to be associated with reported medication errors w ith serious ADR in pediatrics. Wrong techniqu e error type (aOR=2.71; 95%CI 1.47:5.00) related more to reported medication errors with ADR in pediatrics. Conclusions : We identified pediatric - specific medication error patterns in the hospital and community settings. Our findings inform focused error pr evention measures, and pave the way for interventional research targeting the needs of this population