Suggested reporting criteria for future studies that involve measuring medication administration error (MAE) rates adapted from Allan and Barker5
| Parameter | We suggest the following information be reported in future MAE studies |
|---|---|
| Method of data collection | 1. Whether direct observation, incident reports and/or chart review was used 2. Number, profession and experience of data collectors 3. Whether or not inter-observer reliability was assessed if more than one data collector, and how this was assessed |
| Type of doses | 4. Whether or not intravenous (IV) doses were included 5. Proportion of IV doses, if both IV and non-IV were included 6. Whether or not regular, when required and/or ‘once-only’ medication orders were included |
| Patients | 7. Whether adults and/or paediatric patients were studied 8. Proportion of adult and paediatric doses if both were included |
| Medication administration errors | 9. Operational definition accompanied by a set of guidance with examples 10. Explicit inclusion and exclusion criteria. Examples include stating whether or not the following were considered to be an MAE: i. Time of administration in relation to that prescribed (for regular and ‘once-only’ medication orders) ii. Omissions for clinical reasons such as those determined by the nurse, lack of IV access and patient refusal iii. Omission due to patient not on the ward iv. Procedural-related violations such as not checking a patient's identity, leaving a dose at the patient's bedside without observing administration, not labelling a syringe, administering without a valid prescription and not documenting administration v. Errors prevented by the observer, patient, nurse and other healthcare professionals 11. Number of errors possible per dose 12. Number of doses with at least one error if more than one error is possible per dose 13. Types of medication orders involved: regular, ‘when required’, ‘once-only’ medication, medications ordered separate to the drug chart |
| MAE subcategories | 14. Operational definitions for error subcategories used 15. For studies where each dose can only be associated with one error, state the hierarchy for deciding how the MAE category should be allocated if more than one error occurs in the same dose 16. The number of MAE detected in each category |
| Denominator | 17. Operational denominator definition accompanied by a set of guidance with examples 18. Explicit inclusion and exclusion criteria for including doses in the denominator. Examples include stating whether or not the following were included in the denominator: i. Omission of a prescribed dose ii. Administration of an extra dose of a prescribed drug iii. Leaving a dose at the patient's bedside without observing administration iv. Non-medication items, for example support stockings and dietetic products v. Oxygen and other medical gases 19. Types of medication orders included: regular, ‘when required’, ‘once-only’ medication, medications ordered separate to the drug chart 20. Relationship between denominator used and a dose, if dose is not used as the denominator 21. Number of doses excluded from the study |
| MAE rate | 22. How the MAE rate was calculated |
| Other | 23. Whether or not the clinical severity of MAEs was assessed, and how |