Errors medication-related

Keywords Medication errors Drug-related problems Adverse drug event ... 

Incidence of Medication Errors and Related Morbidity and Mortality... 

There is continued focus on adverse drug events and medication errors. Processes must respond to actual or potential adverse drug events and medication errors and properly report them internally and externally (e.g., to the FDA, ISMP, or USP). Other standards address how adverse drug events and medication errors should be addressed to improve systems, support staff education and training, and minimize the risk of medication-related errors and adverse events. 

As the volume and potency of prescription medications have increased, the nation s attention has become focused on the staggering human and economic cost of medication errors. Drug-related morbidity and mortality in the United States has a vast economic impact on the healthcare system. The nation was stunned in 1999 when the Institute of Medicine (lOM) issued a report that concluded that medical errors account for between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths annually. The lOM report noted that [bjecause... 

In many instances, this interaction and others quite similar take place on a daily basis, but the valuable contributions pharmacists make in averting potentially lethal medication-related errors are never captured. More importantly, without this systematic approach to documentation of specific classes of agents, most common reasons for interventions and outcomes of recommendations would not be known or available for follow-up. 

Events Relating to Medication Errors/Transfusion Related Events... 

Assume that a medical-related task is carried out by two independent health care professionals. The task under consideration will be performed incorrectly if either of the health care professionals makes an error. Calculate the probability that the task will not be accomplished successfully, if the probability of making an error by the health care professional is 0.1. 

A medication error is an example of a preventable cause of an adverse drug event and is defined as any preventable event that may result in incorrect medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of a consumer, a healfh care professional, or a patient [4,5]. Medication-related errors result in deaths or serious injuries infrequently, but a sizable number of people each year are affecfed due to the widespread use of various types of drugs bofh oufside and wifhin the hospital environments [6]. 

The annual cost of medication-related errors in the United States is estimated to be over 7 billion [5,16]. 

This agency was created in July 2001 in the United Kingdom to improve patient safety within the framework of the UK National Health Service (NHS) by encouraging voluntary reporting of medical-related errors, performing analysis, and initiating appropriate preventive measures. Since 2005, the NPSA has also been responsible for the following items [7] ... 

Drug-related problems and medication errors Wrong drug or dose... 

Detecting the incidence and type of adverse drug events (ADEs) and medication errors is important for improving the quality of health care delivery. Problems include missing dose, wrong dose, frequency, and route errors. The consequence (ADE) of the errors depends on medication and patient factors as described previously. Some of these problems are organisational and related to chart order system and prescribing. 

A medication error is any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm, while the medication is in the control of the health care professional, patient, or consumer. Such events may be related to professional practice, health care products, procedures, and systems including prescribing order communication product labeling, packaging, and nomenclature compounding dispensing distribution administration education monitoring and use. 

Thorough documentation of medication errors provides information about the severity of the error as it relates to the effeet on the patient, the product(s) involved, the competence of staff handling the produet or proeessing the order, any contributing factors that may predispose a product to misuse, and the suspected root cause of the error. USP adds certain codes to MER Program data in order to characterize the error as it was reported. These codes include the type of error and the possible eause(s) of error. The following list shows some of the produet eharaeteristics that have been recorded over 9 years to have caused or eontributed to a medication error. 

Laboratory safety data can be erroneous, and this must always be considered when abnormalities are reported. There are numerous sources of error, which may be related to the study subject (e.g. self-medication, certain foods, undue exercise), sample collection technique, storage and transport, the analytical technique used... 

Lesar TS, Briceland L, Stein DS. Factors related to errors in medication prescribing. JAMA 1997 277 312-7. 

National Academies of Science, Medication Errors Injure 1.5 Million People and Cost Billions of Dollars Annually Report Offers Comprehensive Strategies for Reducing Drug-Related Mistakes, News from the National Academies. Available online. URL http //www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem. aspx RecordID=11623. Posted July 20, 2006. 

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