Medication Errors Reporting Program United State

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... 

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]. 

Safety of software is equal in importance to that of the hardware elements, as consequences of a software failure in medical devices can be quite serious. For example, a program that is out of control because of a software error can drive a radiation therapy machine gantry into a patient [9]. A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) study conducted over six years (1983-1989) reported that there were 116 problems in software quality that resulted in the recall of medical devices in the United States [3]. Most of the methods and techniques that can be used to improve software safety in medical devices are available in Refs. [10-12]. 

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