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Aeshah AlAzmi,1,2 Omaima Ahmed,2 Hani Alhamdan,1 Hanan AlGarni,3 Rawan Mohammed Elzain,3 Rihad S AlThubaiti,3 Mohammed Aseeri,1 Adnan Al Shaikh4 1Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs (MNGHA), King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC), Pharmaceutical Care Services Department, Clinical Pharmacy Section, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; 2Princes Noorah Oncology Center (PNOC), Pediatric Oncology/Hematology/BMT Section, King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; 3Ibn Sina National College for Medical Studies, Pharmacy College, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; 4Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs (MNGHA), King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC), King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Department of Pediatrics, Chemistry Laboratory, Community Medicine, Jeddah, Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Aeshah AlAzmiKAMC 6255, Jeddah, 21423, Saudi ArabiaTel +966 122266666 Ext 22861Email Aeshah.alazmi@gmail.comAim: Drug-related problems (DRPs) “are the unwanted effects of drugs that potentially lead to a harmful outcome” thereby requiring considerable attention. Hospitalized pediatric patients, in particular, represent a population at risk of DRPs. The epidemiology of preventable DRPs among children in Saudi Arabia remains scarce, which thus poses distinct challenges to all healthcare professionals. We aim to characterize preventable DRPs among hospitalized children at KAMC-Jeddah.Methods: A prospective observational study of children (≤15 years) admitted to pediatric units (excluding cancer units) at KAMC-Jeddah over a 3-month period (May 29 to August 30, 2016) is carried out to determine the incidence of preventable DRPs and investigate the possible associated factors (gender, age, admission location, type of admission, and number of medications).Results: A total of 319 DRPs were identified among 235 patients, of which 280 DRPs (87.8%, 280/319) were deemed preventable. The majority of preventable DRPs were related to dose selection (78%, 219/280). None of the preventable DRPs were life threatening or fatal, and the majority were assessed as moderate in severity (94.3%, 264/280). There was no significant difference between DRP incidences with age mean 3.5 (P=0.389), gender mean (P=0.436), and weight mean 13.47 (P=0.323). Younger children (age ≤2years) admitted to PICU were more likely to have DRP (OR 4.44, 95% CI, 1.87 to 10.52, P=0.00001). Scheduled admissions were 2.89 times more likely to be exposed to DRP compared to transferred admissions (OR 2.8, 95% CI, 1.83 to 4.70, P=0.005). Additionally, DRP incidences increased proportionally to the number of medications.Conclusion: Our data suggest that establishing appropriate prevention strategies towards improvement and safety in medicine use among this vulnerable patient population is a high priority.Keywords: children, risk factors, drug-related problems, hospitalized pediatric patients |
