THE ROLE OF PHARMACISTS IN MINIMIZING MEDICATION ERRORS IN THE NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Background: Hospitalized pediatrics, especially neonates, are more prone to excessive medication errors. Implementation of pharmacy services shows a decline in medication errors in hospitals and clinics. In this study, we aimed to demonstrate the role of pharmacists in reducing medication errors in hospitalized neonates

Methods: The systematic review of the literature was undertaken through the PubMed database from 2002 to 2022. The search MESH terms were multiple combinations of Medication error, Clinical pharmacist, Clinical pharmacy services, Infant & newborn. Afterward, the results were filtered to include the role of pharmacy services in preventing medication errors for the inpatient neonatal population Results: a total of 15 articles were eligible to be included in the current review, comprising neonatal or whole pediatric population, including neonates. The primary pharmacy interventions were prescription auditing, identification of medication errors, changing preparation and administration, medication reconciliation, educating healthcare workers, and developing policies

Conclusions: Our systematic review illustrated that pharmacists integration with other healthcare teams could help minimize medication errors before reaching neonates.