Infusional chemotherapy and medication errors in a tertiary care pediatric cancer unit in a resource-limited setting.
The significant toxicity and individualized dosing required for chemotherapy may lead to serious medication errors. Medication administration protocols and checklists are often employed for administering chemotherapy. This observational study within a tertiary hospital in urban India found that errors occurred in 13.6% of observed medication administrations, and the majority of errors were not intercepted. The harm associated with these errors led to increased need for monitoring in some cases, but no permanent harm or death. A past AHRQ WebM&M perspective described a widely known incident of chemotherapy medication overdose.