Double checking the administration of medicines: what is the evidence? A systematic review
Objective To evaluate the evidence for double checking the administration of medicines. Design A systematic search of six electronic databases—Embase, Medline, British Nursing Index and Archive, CINAHL, National electronic library for Medicines (NeLM) and PsycINFO—for all articles describing doub...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
BMJ Publishing Group
2012
|
| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/2692/ |
| _version_ | 1848790851279388672 |
|---|---|
| author | Alsulami, Zayed Conroy, Sharon Choonara, Imti |
| author_facet | Alsulami, Zayed Conroy, Sharon Choonara, Imti |
| author_sort | Alsulami, Zayed |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Objective To evaluate the evidence for double checking the administration of medicines.
Design A systematic search of six electronic databases—Embase, Medline, British Nursing Index and Archive, CINAHL, National electronic library for Medicines (NeLM) and PsycINFO—for all articles describing double checking of medication and dose calculation, for either dispensing or administration in both adults and children up to and including October 2010.
Results Sixteen articles met the inclusion criteria. There were only three quantitative studies. Only one of these was a randomised controlled clinical trial in a clinical setting. This study showed a statistically significant reduction in the medication error rate from 2.98 (95% CI 2.45 to 3.51) to 2.12 (95% CI 1.69 to 2.55) per 1000 medications administered with double checking. One study reported a reduction in dispensing errors, by a hospital pharmacy, from 9.8 to 6 per year following the introduction of double checking. The majority of the studies were qualitative and involved interviews, focus groups and questionnaires.
Conclusion There is insufficient evidence to either support or refute the practice of double checking the administration of medicines. Clinical trials are needed to establish whether double checking medicines are effective in reducing medication errors. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T18:19:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-2692 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T18:19:11Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-26922020-05-04T16:32:51Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/2692/ Double checking the administration of medicines: what is the evidence? A systematic review Alsulami, Zayed Conroy, Sharon Choonara, Imti Objective To evaluate the evidence for double checking the administration of medicines. Design A systematic search of six electronic databases—Embase, Medline, British Nursing Index and Archive, CINAHL, National electronic library for Medicines (NeLM) and PsycINFO—for all articles describing double checking of medication and dose calculation, for either dispensing or administration in both adults and children up to and including October 2010. Results Sixteen articles met the inclusion criteria. There were only three quantitative studies. Only one of these was a randomised controlled clinical trial in a clinical setting. This study showed a statistically significant reduction in the medication error rate from 2.98 (95% CI 2.45 to 3.51) to 2.12 (95% CI 1.69 to 2.55) per 1000 medications administered with double checking. One study reported a reduction in dispensing errors, by a hospital pharmacy, from 9.8 to 6 per year following the introduction of double checking. The majority of the studies were qualitative and involved interviews, focus groups and questionnaires. Conclusion There is insufficient evidence to either support or refute the practice of double checking the administration of medicines. Clinical trials are needed to establish whether double checking medicines are effective in reducing medication errors. BMJ Publishing Group 2012-05-01 Article PeerReviewed Alsulami, Zayed, Conroy, Sharon and Choonara, Imti (2012) Double checking the administration of medicines: what is the evidence? A systematic review. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 97 (9). pp. 833-837. ISSN 0003-9888, http://adc.bmj.com/content/early/2012/04/30/archdischild-2011-301093.full doi:10.1136/archdischild-2011-301093 doi:10.1136/archdischild-2011-301093 |
| spellingShingle | Alsulami, Zayed Conroy, Sharon Choonara, Imti Double checking the administration of medicines: what is the evidence? A systematic review |
| title | Double checking the administration of medicines: what is the evidence? A systematic review |
| title_full | Double checking the administration of medicines: what is the evidence? A systematic review |
| title_fullStr | Double checking the administration of medicines: what is the evidence? A systematic review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Double checking the administration of medicines: what is the evidence? A systematic review |
| title_short | Double checking the administration of medicines: what is the evidence? A systematic review |
| title_sort | double checking the administration of medicines: what is the evidence? a systematic review |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/2692/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/2692/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/2692/ |