Oversights, Confusions and Misinterpretations Related to Self-Care and Medication in Diabetic and Renal Patients

Objective: To analyse information about the errors made by diabetic and renal patients based on information provided by professionals (general practitioners, specialists, and nurses) and the patients themselves. Subjects and Methods: A descriptive study was carried out by interviewing 199 patients a...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: ORTIZ, LIDIA, Mira, José Joaquín, Lorenzo, Susana, Royuela, Catalina, Vitaller, Julián, Pérez-Jover, Virtudes
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2014
País:España
Institución:Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche
Repositorio:REDIUMH. Depósito Digital de la UMH
OAI Identifier:oai:dspace.umh.es:11000/34754
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/11000/34754
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Patient safety
Medication errors
Patient participation
Physician-patient relations
CDU::5 - Ciencias puras y naturales::51 - Matemáticas
Descripción
Sumario:Objective: To analyse information about the errors made by diabetic and renal patients based on information provided by professionals (general practitioners, specialists, and nurses) and the patients themselves. Subjects and Methods: A descriptive study was carried out by interviewing 199 patients and 60 professionals from the Spanish provinces of Alicante and Madrid. The interview explored the frequencies and types of oversights, confusions, and misinterpretations and the factors that contributed to them. Results: Among the 199 patients, 59 (29.5%) and 42 (70%) of the 60 professionals considered that patients frequently made errors that affected the success of their treatment. There were no differences in the frequency of the reported errors based on gender (p = 0.7), educational level (p = 0.9), or marital status (p = 0.5). The most commonly reported errors were taking the wrong medication (n = 70; 35%) and mixing up medicines (n = 15; 7.5%). Diabetics who had not been adequately informed, compared to renal patients, reported a higher number of errors (p = 0.02). Conclusions: Patient errors were frequent because of communication failures and confusions. Diabetic patients had a higher chance of committing an error than renal patients. Patient education must include clear and personalized instructions for improving self-care and reducing risks when using medicines.