Medication error management
What is a Medication Error ?
"A medication error is 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. Such events may be related to professional practice, health care products, procedures, and systems, including prescribing; order communication; product labeling, packaging, and nomenclature; compounding; dispensing; distribution; administration; education, monitoring and use."
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Medication Errors Today: A Costly and Critical Problem
Medication errors are a significant and growing problem that can result in tragic loss of life and significant cost increases to the health-care community.
Recent studies have listed medical errors as the eighth leading cause of death - ahead of motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer or AIDS.
(1) The American Hospital Association estimates that medical errors account for between 44,000 and 98,000 U.S. deaths each year.
(2) From a financial perspective, research indicates that nationally, the annual cost of preventable adverse drug events in the U.S. is about $6 billion.
(3) New information seems to emerge every day about the extent of the problem, dramatically increasing the urgency for health care providers and suppliers to improve the situation.
Although medication errors can occur anywhere in the medication delivery process, improved administration safety at the point of care is can have a dramatic impact on reducing harm to patients, since intravenous (IV) medication errors, involving powerful drugs and acutely ill patients, pose the greatest risk. Until recently, the focus was on medication errors at the earlier stages of the drug delivery process and on technologies to address problems in these areas. This left a huge gap. Medication errors at the point-of-care were under-addressed in both process and technology solutions - until now.
1. The Institute of Medicine; To Err is Human; National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCC MERP), 1999
2. American Hospital Association. Hospital Statistics. Chicago, Il. 1999. See also; Thomas, Eric J.; Studdert, David M.; Burstin, Helen R., et. al. Incidence and Types of Adverse Events and Negligent Care in Utah and Colorado. Med Care forthcoming Spring 2000. see also; Thomas, Eric J.; Studdert, David M.; Newhouse, Joseph P.; et al. Costs of Medical Injuries in Utah and Colorado. Inquiry 36:255-264, 1999
3. Bates DW, Spell N, Cullen DJ, et al. The costs of adverse drug events in hospitalized patients. JAMA. 1997;277:307-311.
