A robust upsurge in the number of ...

A robust upsurge in the number of medication errors reported in the MEDMARX database is a positive gradation toward identifying and eliminating medication errors and ensuring the safety and well-being of hospital patients, according to a Nov 18 2003 moderns release from United States Pharmacopeia (USP). When hospitals identify medication error inclines and problem areas, they can obstruct future errors and, therefore, diminish patient harm and injuries. The error analysis was included in the report, Summary of Information Submitted to MEDMARX in the Year 2002: The inquiry for Quality, which analyzes medication errors reported to MEDMARX, USP's national, Internet-accessible, anonymous reporting database that hospitals and health care hypothesiss use to track and summarize sweeps in medication errors.

Of the 192477 medication errors documented by the agency of MEBMARX, the vast majority were corrected before patients were harmed; however, patient injury issueed from 3,213 errors (ie, 17%) Of this number, 514 errors required initial or extended hospitalization, 47 required interventions to sustain life, and 20 consequence ed in a patient's death. Compared with 2001 data, a smaller percentage of reported errors riseed in harm to the patient (ie, 17% in 2002 versus 24% in 2001)

The 2002 MEDMARX data report also plant that incorrect administration technique continues to be responsible for the largest number of harmful medication errors (ie, 62%) This error be met withs when medications either are prepared incorrectly or administered incorrectly, or one as well as the other Examples include not diluting concentrated medications, crushing sustained-released medications, applying vigilance drops to the wrong notice and using incorrect IV tubes for medication administration.

Health care facilities attributed medication errors to many causes, citing workplace distractions (43%) staffing issues like as shift changes and floating staff members (36%) and workload increases (22%) as contributing factors. Although workplace distraction remains the leading factor contributing to medication errors, the data revealed a small quantity from 47% in 2001.

A limited number of high-alert medications continue to cause the in the greatest degree severe injury to patients when an error is committed. For example, three of the top medications often involved in harmful errors were insulin, heparin, and morphine.

USP Releases Fourth Annual Report forward Medication Errors in US Hospitals (new release, Rockville, Md: United States Pharmacopeia, Nov 18 2003) http://www.onlinepressroom.net/uspharm (accessed 8 Dec 2003)

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