Priorities in the Prevention Strategies for Medication Error Using the Analytical Hierarchy Process Method

Siin Kim, Hyungtae Kim, Haesun Suh

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

As medication error is inherently “preventable”, we should try to minimize errors to improve patient safety and quality of care. The aim of this study was to prioritize strategies to prevent medication errors using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method. The hierarchy structure consisted of three stages: goal of the decision, decision criteria, and alternatives. Ten experts of patient safety research or clinical pharmacology compared each pair of criteria and alternatives and assigned a nine-point numerical scale. We used the eigenvector method to aggregate the pairwise comparisons obtained from experts and to estimate the weights of each criterion and alternative. Among the decision criteria, system improvement in reporting was the most preferred criterion, followed by cultural improvement and system improvement in the counterplan. The preferred alternative was a counterplan by healthcare institutions, followed by a change from a blame culture to safety culture and the building of a reporting system. A sensitivity analysis indicated that priorities were generally robust in the methods used for calculating the integrated matrices. We have suggested the priority of preventive strategies against medication errors using the AHP method. The prioritization of preventive strategies could help policymakers understand current needs and therefore develop evidence-based policies on patient safety.

Original languageEnglish
Article number512
JournalHealthcare (Switzerland)
Volume10
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

  • Analytic hierarchy process
  • Medication error
  • Patient safety
  • Preventive strategies
  • Prioritization

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