BACKGROUND
Hospitalized children with complex treatment plans risk medication errors (ME) after discharge. Whereas ample information describes ME in children or in mixed populations including pediatric and adult populations discharged from hospital to community settings with acute or chronic diseases, ME are still a major concern in children and adolescents with chronic diseases discharged home.
OBJECTIVE
To promote home medication safety, we trained parents of children discharged with chronic diseases to record ME with a tailored cell-phone eHealth app.
METHODS
In a one-year prospective study, we used the app to monitor ME in patients with chronic diseases discharged home from a tertiary hospital in Rome, Italy. Univariate and multivariate analyses detected the ME incidence rate ratio (IRR).
RESULTS
Of the 310 parents enrolled, 194 used the app. The 41 ME involved all drug-management phases. The ME IRR was 0.46 errors per child. Children <1 year had the highest ME risk (1.69 vs 0.35, P .002). Children discharged from the cardiology unit had a statistically higher ME IRR than others (3.66, 95% CI: 1.01-13.23%).
CONCLUSIONS
The highest ME risk at home involves children with chronic diseases < 1-year. A significant ME IRR at home concerns children with heart diseases of any age. Parents find a tailored eHealth app for monitoring and reporting ME at home easy to use. At discharge, clinical teams need to identify age-related and disease-residual risks to target additional actions for monitoring ME thus increasing medication safety at home.