Medication errors definition

A variety of error rates for different aspects of the medication use process have been reported. Researchers use different methodologies and definitions of medication error, and study different aspects of the medication use process (i.e., prescribing, dispensing, administering). Because there is no national standardization for the denominator used to report medication error rates, the denominator can vary among several, including doses dispensed, doses administered, doses ordered, and patient days. Therefore, the rates reported in the literature are limited in their use for comparative purposes [5]. 

Medication errors have been defined in many ways, depending on research methodologies, incident reporting systems, risk management, or total quality improvement systems. USP uses the broad definition of medication error from the NCC MERP ... 

American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Suggested definitions and relationships among medication misadventures, medication errors, adverse drug events, and adverse drug reactions. Am J Health-Syst Pharm 1998 55 165-6. 

Since the Council s formation, it has produced several important work products. Among them are the standardization definition of the medication error, the development of a series of recommendations designed to reduce errors in the medication use process, and the... 

American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Suggested Definitions and Relationships Among Medication Misadventures, Medication Errors, Adverse Drug Events and Adverse Drug Reactions. Am. J. Health-Syst. Pharm. 1998, 55, 165-166. 

Recent examples of workshop topics at our two annual UKCPA symposia included sessions on compliance/ concordance, PlLs, off-label use of medicines, medication errors and ADR reporting. For the future, clinical governance and all its implications are high on the agenda and, to paraphrase the definition, we intend to help.... create an environment in which pharmaceutical care will flourish. 

The variation in the error rates was probably due to the differences in the definitions of medication errors, the methodologies used and the settings. For example, the error rate in a neonatal intensive care unit is much higher than that in a general paediatric ward. Furthermore, the systems of prescribing, dispensing and drug administration vary... 

The medical errors work group of the QuIC, with AHRQ s lead, issued a contract to develop and deploy a valid and reliable instrument that would be available in the public domain and could be used by all components of the federal government, as well as by healthcare institutions and researchers. In order to carry out the necessary development, a contract was awarded to Westat, a private research organisation. A definition of safety culture was adopted for instrument development ... 

Are all adverse events preventable The answer depends on the definition of "adverse event." Some patients will die in the natural course of events, irrespective of the quality of treatment provided. But this by itself does not mean that some number of medical errors are inevitable. 

Often multidisciplinary teams have never met to establish consensus on critical definitions, that is, to establish a common language," says an administrative leader who took part in developing the system. "Physicians, administrators, nurses, pharmacists, and performance improvement staff created error classification schemes for medication variances together."... 

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