Background: Patient safety is a critical component of healthcare, with systems such as Datix playing a key role in incident reporting and risk management. Medication errors in paediatrics are a significant patient safety concern, with studies showing higher error rates in children than adults. Using Datix as a learning tool can help improve medication and patient safety practices. Method: Datix reports from Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital submitted between 23rd September 2023 and 23rd September 2024 were analysed. Medication errors were categorised into prescribing, administration, or dispensing and analysed based on patient demographics (age and sex), medication group, administration route, error type, subcategory of error, severity, outcome, speciality, common months, staff member grade, action taken, and lessons learned to identify trends. Results: A total of 103 medication errors were reported. In the new Datix system (n=60), 20 cases involved young children ages 1 to 5 (33.3%), gender was equally distributed, and nurses made more medication errors. The most frequent errors were in paediatric medicine, intensive care, and oncology. The most frequent month with medication errors was November 2023 (12%, n=12). Administration errors (48%, n=49) were most common and 20% (n=26) involved antibiotics. Regarding severity, 74% (n=76) were classified as no harm. Reported actions and lessons learned focused on multidisciplinary collaboration, staff education, and targeted training. Conclusion: Medication errors are a significant problem in paediatrics. Implementing strategies such as electronic prescribing, staff education and promoting a better reporting culture can strengthen patient safety. Importantly, using Datix as a learning tool within quality improvement projects can enhance patient and medication safety in paediatric care.
Lingakumar et al. (Thu,) studied this question.