Medication error rates in Iranian hospitals: a meta-analysis

Medication errors (MEs) in hospitals decrease patient satisfaction, increase hospital mortality, lower hospital productivity, and increase in the costs of the health system. This study was conducted to determine the rate of MEs in Iranian hospitals. In this meta-analysis, all published articles on ME rates in Iranian hospitals were identified from five databases and Google Scholar and assessed for quality. The heterogeneity of the studies was examined using the I index and a meta-regression model was used to evaluate the variables suspected of heterogeneity at the 0.05 significance level. Finally, 17 articles were eligible to be included in this study and were analyzed using the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA) software. Based on the estimation of the random-effects model, the ME rate in Iranian hospitals was 10.9% (5.1%-21.7%; 95% CI). The highest rate was observed in Sanandaj in 2006 at 99.5% (92.6%-100.0%; 95% CI) and the lowest rate was observed in Kashan in 2019 at 0.2% (0.1%-0.3%; 95% CI). In addition, sample size and publication year were significantly correlated with ME rate (P