Medication errors: the human factor

Medication errors: the human factor.

Introduction to medication errors and medication safety

A medication safety incident is defined by the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) as: ‘any unintended or unexpected incident which could have or did lead to harm for one or more patients’ (NPSA, 2007:9). These incidents can occur at each stage of the process involved in the delivery of medicines to patients, i.e. prescribing (including transcribing or physician ordering), dispensing, prepara...

Medication Errors Are Preventable

The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCC MERP) defines a "medication error" as "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. At many occasions a medication error can be caught or is rectified before its administ...

Reducing medication errors.

© 2000 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors Public concern regarding medication errors was heightened by the recent death of infant Trevor Landry from a narcotic overdose in a Toronto-area hospital. This case involved the mistaken administration of morphine instead of meperidine postoperatively. A colleague and I reported a near-fatal medication error during general anesthesia that res...

Evaluation of Medication Errors from the Perspective of Nurses in the ICUs of Yazd City

Introduction: Medication error is one of the most common errors in the medical context which has a great importance in the ICUs due to the patients’ inability and vulnerability in participating in the medication therapy. The aim of this study was to determine frequency, types, and reasons of medication errors in the ICUs. Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study, which was conduct...