| 1. |
- Lövborg, Henrik, et al.
(författare)
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A fatal outcome after unintentional overdosing of rivastigmine patches
- 2012
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Ingår i: Current drug safety. - : Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.. - 2212-3911 .- 1574-8863. ; 7:1, s. 30-32
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Rivastigmine is an acetylcholine esterase inhibitor used in the treatment of dementia. Patches with rivastigmine for transdermal delivery have been used to increase compliance and to reduce side effects.CASE REPORT: We describe an 87-year old male with dementia treated with multiple rivastigmine patches (Exelon 9,5 mg/24 h) who developed nausea, vomiting and renal failure with disturbed electrolytes resulting in death. The symptoms occurred after six rivastigmine patches had concomitantly been erroneously applied by health care personnel on two consecutive days. The terminal cause of death was considered to be uremia from an acute tubular necrosis that was assessed as a result of dehydration through vomiting. The rivastigmine intoxication was assessed as having caused or contributed to the dehydrated condition. The medication error occurred at least partly due to ambiguous labeling. The clinical signs were not initially recognized as adverse effects of rivastigmine.DISCUSSION: The presented case is a description of a rivastigmine overdose due to a medication error involving patches. This case indicates the importance of clear and unambiguous instructions to avoid administration errors with patches and to be vigilant to adverse drug reactions for early detection and correction of drug administration errors. In particular, instructions clearly indicating that only one patch should be applied at a time are important.
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| 2. |
- Lövborg, Henrik, et al.
(författare)
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A prospective analysis of the preventability of adverse drug reactions reported in Sweden
- 2012
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Ingår i: European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. - : Springer Verlag (Germany). - 0031-6970 .- 1432-1041. ; 68:8, s. 1183-1189
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a major patient safety issue, and a substantial proportion of ADRs are, in fact, preventable. The aim of this study was to describe the proportion and pattern of preventable ADRs in spontaneously reported suspected ADRs and to study the feasibility of using data from an ADR reporting system for this purpose. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanAll reports of ADRs, except those in which a vaccine was the suspected drug, submitted to the regional pharmacovigilance center of southeastern Sweden between 2008 and 2009 were analyzed. Causality between the suspected ADR and the medication was assessed using the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria, and preventability was assessed using Hallas criteria. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanDuring the study period, 1,290 ADRs were received and 1,255 were classified as having at least a possible causality between a reaction and a drug. Of these, 172 (14%) ADRs were considered preventable, 35 (20%) were classified as definitely preventable, and 137 (80%) as possibly preventable. Of all preventable ADRs, 96 (56%) were related to prescribing, 35 (20%) to administration, and 41 (24%) to clinical and laboratory monitoring of treatment. Warfarin, oxycodone, and ioversol were the most common drugs with preventable ADRs. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanThis study found that a substantial part of reported ADRs are preventable. Most of these are related to drug prescription, suggesting that interventions aiming to reduce preventable ADRs should focus on this process. Moreover, systems for ADR reporting may be useful in the mission of reducing the unsafe use of drugs.
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| 3. |
- Lövborg, Henrik, et al.
(författare)
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Medication errors related to transdermal opioid patches: lessons from a regional incident reporting system
- 2014
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Ingår i: BMC Pharmacology & Toxicology. - : BioMed Central. - 2050-6511. ; 15
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: A few cases of adverse reactions linked to erroneous use of transdermal opioid patches have been reported in the literature. The aim of this study was to describe and characterize medication errors (MEs) associated with use of transdermal fentanyl and buprenorphine. Methods: All events concerning transdermal opioid patches reported between 2004 and 2011 to a regional incident reporting system and assessed as MEs were scrutinized and characterized. MEs were defined as "a failure in the treatment process that leads to, or has the potential to lead to, harm to the patient". Results: In the study 151 MEs were identified. The three most common error types were wrong administration time 67 (44%), wrong dose 34 (23%), and omission of dose 20 (13%). Of all MEs, 118 (78%) occurred in the administration stage of the medication process. Harm was reported in 26 (17%) of the included cases, of which 2 (1%) were regarded as serious harm (nausea/vomiting and respiratory depression). Pain was the most common adverse reaction reported. Conclusions: Of the reported MEs related to transdermal fentanyl and buprenorphine, most occurred during administration. Improved routines to ascertain correct and timely administration and educational interventions to reduce MEs for these drugs are warranted.
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