Medication-related disputes in Beijing China from 2013 to 2019

Objectives Through searching and summarizing the medication-related disputes and claims in Beijing, we found the factors that were most likely to cause disputes during the medication process. These provided a basis for further exploration of medication-related dispute prevention and control measures. Methods We took all medication-related dispute archives from the Beijing People’s Mediation Committee of Medical Disputes（BPMCMD）database from January 2013 to December 2019 as the research object, and used pre-designed forms for data extraction and entry. Results Medication-related disputes accounted for 2.43% of the total number of disputes, of which 158 disputes got the payment from hospitals. There were obviously more disputes between women than men. The most disputes occurred in outpatient clinics, followed by hospitalization and emergency treatment. Disputes were most likely to occur in pharmacy, respiratory medicine, pediatrics, neurology and orthopedics. Antibacterial drugs were the most common drugs that caused disputes, followed by herbal medicines or Chinese patent drugs, antineoplastic drugs, analgesic drugs, psycholeptics drugs and antithrombotic agents. Medication errors mainly concentrated in inappropriate drugs (within guidelines, but otherwise contraindicated); wrong drugs or strength dispensed; drug dose too high and no indications for drug. The main cause of disputes was adverse drug events. The total compensation for seven years was 15.19 million yuan. Conclusions We comprehensively displayed the dispute data from the patient, the doctor, the drug, and the compensation, etc. The research would help Beijing and other regions formulate the strategies to reduce medication errors, improve patient safety, and reduce medication-related dispute