Preventing medication errors in anesthesia and critical care (abbreviated version)

Clinical review: Medication errors in critical care

Medication errors in critical care are frequent, serious, and predictable. Critically ill patients are prescribed twice as many medications as patients outside of the intensive care unit (ICU) and nearly all will suffer a potentially life-threatening error at some point during their stay. The aim of this article is to provide a basic review of medication errors in the ICU, identify risk factors...

Medication errors in critical care: risk factors, prevention and disclosure.

Preventing vincristine sulfate medication errors.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To review the clinical pharmacology of vincristine sulfate, describe three types of medication errors associated with its use, and suggest strategies for vincristine sulfate medication error prevention. DATA SOURCES Published books and journal articles, online newsletters and documents, pharmaceutical manufacturers package inserts, and personal experience. DATA SYNTHESIS ...

Reducing medication errors in critical care: a multimodal approach

The Institute of Medicine has reported that medication errors are the single most common type of error in health care, representing 19% of all adverse events, while accounting for over 7,000 deaths annually. The frequency of medication errors in adult intensive care units can be as high as 947 per 1,000 patient-days, with a median of 105.9 per 1,000 patient-days. The formulation of drugs is a p...

Environmental Factors Contributing to Medication Errors in Intensive Care Units

Introduction: Medication errors are one of the most common types of medical errors. In Intensive Care Units, because of its special circumstances, the risk of such errors is increasing. There are several causes for the medication errors of nurses, including environmental factors. Objective: The current study aimed at determining environmental factors contributing to medication errors based on ...