ASHP guidelines on preventing medication errors with antineoplastic agents.

Purpose The purpose of these guidelines is to assist practitioners in improving their antineoplastic medication-use system and error-prevention programs. They supplement ASHP’s Guidelines on Preventing Medication Errors in Hospitals and address error prevention within diverse health care settings. Further, these guidelines provide updated general guidance to include a standard definition of a “medication error” and applicable aspects of recommendations from the National Coordinating Council on Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCCMERP). NCCMERP’s definition of 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 provider, patient, or consumer. Such events