Medication error documentation

That medication errors occur frequently in U.S. hospitals has been well-documented [2-4]. In observation studies done between 1962 and 1995 on the rate of administration errors in a variety of in-patient settings, rates ranged from 0 to 59% [5]. Estimates that medication errors occur in almost 7% of hospitalized patients have been reported [6]. One study found that the frequency of medication errors was 1.4 per admission [4]. When approximately 290,000 medication orders were analyzed, Lesar et al. estimated that there were almost two serious errors for every 1,000 orders written. Based on a review of death certificates, it was estimated that almost 8,000 people died from medication errors in 1993, as opposed to almost 3,000 people in 1983 [3]. Researchers foimd an error rate at tv 0 children s hospitals of 4.7 per 1,000 orders [7]. Several... 

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. 

That medication errors occur frequently in U.S. hospitals has been well documented.In observation studies carried out between 1962 and 1995 on the rate of administration errors in a variety of inpatient settings. 

Hazards of these complex drug therapy regimens are becoming well documented. Concern with medication errors is a frequent topic in the medical and lay literature. 

The benefits of having a clinical pharmacist within a pediatric practice setting have been documented in several different ways. Reducing medication errors and patient costs have been the primary methods by which new or additional pediatric pharmacy positions have been justified.In 1987, Folli and colleagues published... 

Advances in technology can facilitate the generation and transfer of patient documentation. As more pharmacies use the Internet as a means of communication, information can be transferred quickly and accurately over greater distances. Handheld computers and specialty software allow health care practitioners to document information in an electronic format that can be transformed immediately for rapid transfer to others. Reports in the literature have described methods to assess pharmacist interventions related to medication errors, the use of computer-based systems, and recently, the use of personal digital assistants (PDAs) in specific patient care areas. Many of these documentation systems tend to be individualized apphcations in which the transfer of data to other providers is not possible or quite limited. Often these systems focus on the generation of reports for workload analysis or accreditation purposes. 

Different methodological approaches exist to assess the frequency of adverse events or medical errors. The state of the art methodology for assessing errors is observation and document analysis. With observation, health care profession-... 

It is important that all relevant information, communication and documentation are available for all practitioners involved in the care of the patient. The organisational aspect is to make this possible and easily usable for care. The professional aspect is to correctly use the system for input and output. This includes documentation and follow-up on aims, planning and all other relevant activities. The patient opinion and need must also be addressed and documented. Many of the problems have the potential to cause errors. This is described in Chapter 7 and also in other chapters. Here we focus on the basic organisational and professional features of the medication system in the elderly. 

The clinical trial monitor is a temporary member of the site team. A good monitor will conduct scheduled visits, and the investigator and the site staff should provide sufficient time to answer questions and correct data in the CRF that has been transferred incorrectly from source documents. Common errors are omitting negative answers and signatures. The monitor will need space to work and should be provided with requested documentation, including medical records, for review. 

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