Medication Errors Reporting Program

Discuss the importance in participating in the MedWatch programs and the Medication Errors Reporting Program. 

USP MEDICATION ERRORS REPORTING PROGRAM Presented in cooperation with the Institute for Safe Medication Practices The USP Practitioners Reporting Network is an FDA medWatch partner... 

Appendix C contains a United States Pharmacopeia (USP) medication errors reporting program form, which is used by health care professionals for sharing information of medication errors to prevent them from occuring again. Also included is text explaining medication error and the USP... 

Prevention of medication errors is the primary objective of the USP Medication Errors Reporting Program. It collects and analyzes potential and actual medication errors submitted by health care practitioners. The program affords health care professionals the opportunity to report medication errors and thereby contribute to improving patient safety by sharing their experiences. 

USP s anonymous medication error reporting program used by hospitals. 

This chapter focuses on system enhancements and the checks and balances needed to proactively prevent medication errors as pharmacists and technicians prepare, dispense, and monitor the effects of medications in all practice settings. In addition, focus is placed on the importance of determining latent failures that contribute to mediation errors by developing effective medication error reporting programs to discover how latent failures occur and how they can be prevented. 

Report any information relating to medication errors to the Medication Errors Reporting Program operated by USP convention [10] and the Institute for Safe Medication Practice (ISMP) or other corresponding institutions in the different countries. The program shares information on medication errors with health care professionals to prevent similar errors from recurring. 

The Medication Error Reporting Program (MERP) is a voluntary program administered by the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) in conjxmction with the ISMP. This confidential reporting system improves patient safety by alerting practitioners and the industry to potential or actual problems. Practitioners are asked to report errors and near misses to this program so that others learn from errors and prevent similar errors in the future. 

Independent review of all errors reported to the USP-ISMP Medication Errors Reporting Program (MERP) and acting partner in the FDA s MedWatch Program. 

To maintain a national medication error reporting program to collect observations and experiences of healthcare practitioners and to analyze this information with a systems approach in order to draw valid... 

The Institute of Medicine (lOM) estimates that between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths annually in the U.S. result from medical errors. While there is some debate about this estimate, it is clear that medication errors are common and result in significant adverse effects, including death. Databases of anonymously reported errors are maintained jointly by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), the U.S. Pharmacopeia Medication Errors Reporting Program (USP MERP), and the FDA s MedWatch program. Adverse drug events occm in 3% of hospitalizations, and this number is larger for special populations such as those in pediatric and neonatal intensive care units. 

A study of the United States Pharmacopoeia voluntary Medication Errors Reporting Program data over a one-year period revealed that in approximately 30% of the fatalities labeling or packaging was clearly cited as a contributory factor to medication errors that resulted in fatalities [11]. The types of labeling or packaging-related problems encountered are shown in Figure 6.1 [11]. 

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