Medication errors associated with anticoagulant therapy in the hospital

Anticoagulation in hospitalized patients is frequently associated with medication errors. To determine the extent and severity of this problem, we reviewed consecutively reported, anticoagulation-related medication errors over a 3-year period. We identified 130 medication errors. There were 1.67 medication errors for every 1,000 patients treated with anticoagulants. These were most often associated with unfractionated heparin (66.2%), followed by warfarin (21.5%), low-molecular-weight heparin (9.2%), argatroban (1.5%), and lepirudin (1.5%). There were no deaths attributed to any anticoagulant medication errors, but 6.2% of patients required medical intervention and 1.5% needed prolonged hospitalization. Medication errors frequently occur with anticoagulant therapy in hospitalized patients.