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Drug poisoning in nursing homes: a retrospective study of data from the Danish Poison Information Centre

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Abstract

Background

Medication errors are common in nursing homes and may result in poisonings and hospitalizations.

Objective

This study describes potential drug poisonings in nursing home residents reported to the Danish Poison Information Centre (DPIC), focusing on identifying the reasons of reported potential or occurred poisonings.

Methods

A retrospective analysis was conducted on data from the DPIC database covering January 1st, 2014 to October 31st, 2019.

Results

We identified 1132 inquiries as potential poisonings in nursing home residents aged 65 years and older, accounting for less than 1% of all inquiries to the DPIC. Drugs were included in 707 inquiries (62%). Of the 707 inquiries, 516 drug poisonings were initially rated as having a limited or no risk (73%), while 146 cases were rated as at risk of life-threatening or manifest poisonings (21%). Hospitalization was recommended in 101 (14%) of 707 cases while the patient was at the nursing home, and in 104 cases (15%) the patient was already in hospital at the time of the call; 38 (37%) of the 104 patients already being hospitalized were rated with a limited or no risk. Most drug poisonings were due to failure in administration processes. Residents ingesting another resident’s medication were seen in 243 cases (34%). Incorrect dosing was seen in 306 cases (43%).

Conclusion

Although it is not known to what extent potential poisonings are reported to the DPIC, the data can be used to describe reasons behind medication errors and potential poisonings that occur in nursing homes and thus contribute to the work of preventing medication errors.

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Acknowledgements

The staff at the DPIC are acknowledged for providing information used in these analyses. Martin Erik Nyeland at the Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital assisted with parts of the statistical analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital, Bispebjerg Bakke 23, Entrance 20C, 2400, Copenhagen NV, Denmark

    Helle Neel Jakobsen, Charlotte Vermehren, Jon Trærup Andersen & Kim Dalhoff

  2. Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Charlotte Vermehren & Jon Trærup Andersen

  3. The Danish Poison Information Centre (DPIC), Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Kim Dalhoff

Authors
  1. Helle Neel Jakobsen
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  2. Charlotte Vermehren
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  3. Jon Trærup Andersen
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  4. Kim Dalhoff
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Helle Neel Jakobsen.

Ethics declarations

Funding

No external funding was received.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflict of interest relevant to this study.

Ethical approval

In Denmark, retrospective register studies are not required to have ethical approval, but the use of data was approved by the Danish Data Protection Agency (2012-58-0004).

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Data Availability

Since the study is based on patient information, the data are not publicly available. Only after permission from the Danish Data Protection Agency and after permission from the DPIC can data be available for researchers.

Code availability

Not applicable.

Author contributions

KD and CV conceived the idea for the study. KD, CV, JTA and HNJ were involved in the work of designing the study as well as interpreting and commenting on results and the manuscript. HNJ wrote the paper and performed the statistical analyses.

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Jakobsen, H.N., Vermehren, C., Andersen, J.T. et al. Drug poisoning in nursing homes: a retrospective study of data from the Danish Poison Information Centre. Drugs Ther Perspect 37, 328–337 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40267-021-00841-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40267-021-00841-2

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