According to a new study, almost one in five childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients fall victim to medication errors, and as a result, do not receive proper chemotherapy treatment.
The study, published in the Sep. 15, 2006 issue of a peer-reviewed American Cancer Society journal titled CANCER, also found that 10 percent of outpatients were prescribed or administered incorrect chemotherapeutic medication. These errors may have exposed the patients to a higher risk of relapse, or complications arising from overdose.
Past studies have found that medical mistakes in the United States may be responsible for up to 98,000 hospital deaths every year. Medication errors alone account for nearly 7,000 yearly inpatient deaths. Outpatient medication errors resulting from prescription errors, or pharmacist errors are thought to be even more common, but they have not been well-studied.
Many drugs have fairly wide safety margins, so many medication errors do not result in serious injury. However, children with cancer are given drugs that can be extremely harmful if they are not administered in doses within a small safety window. The drugs must also be administered according to very specific, and sometimes complex protocols.
The Study
The study, led by the University of Washington’s James A. Taylor, M.D., and the Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, looked at the types and rates of medication errors that occur in child outpatient chemotherapy for ALL. The study reviewed the prescription and administration of medication to 69 patients.
More Findings
The study found that at least one error was identified in 9.9 percent of all medication treatments (172 of them). Nearly 20 percent of all the pediatric patients studied fell victim to at least one medication error.
Most of the errors were attributable to faulty administration. Only five were the result of a prescription giving the wrong dosage.
The study found an overall error rate of 10 percent in outpatient chemotherapy for child ALL patients. “It is possible that the efficacy of treatment regimens is reduced or toxicity increased because not all children are receiving the chemotherapeutic agents as indicated,” said Dr. Taylor.
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