Relationship between availability of emergency department-based clinical pharmacy services and incidence of medication errors in emergency departments: a systematic review

The number of drugs provided by the Emergency Departments (EDs) in the United States is as high as 212.1 million per year and the number of ED visits has increased by 32% between 1996 and 20061. Medication errors in EDs are associated with a higher rate of adverse drug events than those that occur in other levels of acute health care, such as intensive care units, surgical units and medical units2. EDs treat more than 110 million patients a year. Progressively, more patients are admitted in EDs for protracted intervals of time until an inpatient bed becomes vacant. This contributes to the congestion of the innately overwhelmed emergency care system. Another factor for such congestion is the use of EDs by many patients as main locations to receive primary medical care. The mixture of extremely sick patients, boarded inpatients waiting for vacant beds, and patients seeking primary care renders an ED one of the most frenzied environments in hospitals. In the middle of this commotion, patients are at increased risk of receiving less than optimal pharmacotherapy compared to that provided to inpatients and outpatients2. The Joint Commission, which was formerly known as the Joint Commission on Accreditation ABSTRACT