Administration of medications takes up to 40% of nurses’ time in providing patient care (Armitage & Knapman, 2003). Multiple stages to the medication process include order entry, transcription and verification, dispensing, medication administration, and consumption by the patient. Inherent in all these stages are the five rights: the right patient, right medication, right dose, right route, and...

BACKGROUND Medication errors are a common type of preventable errors in health care causing unnecessary patient harm, hospitalization, and even fatality. Improving communication between providers and between providers and patients is a key aspect of decreasing medication errors and improving patient safety. Medication management requires extensive collaboration and communication across roles an...

This qualitative study explored the medication management experiences of Australian ethnic minority family caregivers of people living with dementia. From the perspective of this group of caregivers, medication management was a source of stress resulting from the progressive loss of ability of care recipients to manage their own medications; the complexity of the medication regime and the careg...

BACKGROUND Older people in long-term residential care are at increased risk of medication prescribing and administration errors. The main aim of this study was to measure the incidence of medication administration errors in nursing and residential homes using a barcode medication administration (BCMA) system. METHODS A prospective study was conducted in 13 care homes (9 residential and 4 nurs...

BACKGROUND In contrast with many studies describing the usual care for major depression in the primary care setting, there are few data on treatment received by primary care patients with panic disorder. METHODS This prospective cohort study describes the self-reported medication use, at 3-month intervals for 1 year, of 58 patients with panic disorder and predictors of the use of appropriate ...

BACKGROUND Even under the new long-term care mantra for increased home- and community-based care options, attention to and an understanding of the ways that family caregivers are managing complex care for dependent elderly persons, for example, with medication administration, have been slow to materialize. METHODS Twenty-three family caregivers completed semistructured, face-to-face interview...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the incidence of medication errors in Spanish intensive care units. DESIGN Post hoc study of the SYREC trial. A longitudinal observational study carried out during 24 hours in patients admitted to the ICU. SETTING Spanish intensive care units. PATIENTS Patients admitted to the intensive care unit participating in the SYREC during the period of study. MAIN VARIABLES...

BACKGROUND Multi-morbidity and polypharmacy of the elderly population enhances the probability of elderly in residential long-term care facilities experiencing inappropriate medication use. OBJECTIVES The aim is to systematically review literature to assess the prevalence of inappropriate medication use in residential long-term care facilities for the elderly. METHODS Databases (MEDLINE, EM...

Persons with limited life expectancy (LLE) - less than 1 year - are significant consumers of health care, are at increased risk of polypharmacy and adverse drug events, and have dynamic health statuses. Therefore, medication use among this population must be appropriate and regularly evaluated. The objective of this review is to assess the current state of knowledge and clinical practice presen...

BACKGROUND An accurate medication list at hospital admission is essential for the evaluation and further treatment of patients. The objective of this study was to describe the frequency, type and predictors of errors in medication history, and to evaluate the extent to which standard care corrects these errors. METHODS A descriptive study was carried out in two medical wards in a Swedish hosp...