RN medication errors occur most frequently in medical-surgical, ICU units: 5 study insights

Medication errors reported by registered nurses occur more frequently in the medical-surgical and intensive care units than any other hospital units, according to a study in Applied Nursing Research.

Researchers examined a total of 1,276 medication error incident reports made by RNs in hospital inpatient settings in the United States.

Here are five study insights:

1. The most common drug class associated with medication errors was cardiovascular drugs (24.7 percent).

2. Among cardiovascular drugs, anticoagulants were associated with the most errors.

3. The antimicrobials class was the second most common drug class associated with errors (19.1 percent).

4. Vancomycin was the antimicrobial most commonly associated with errors.

5. Ten percent of medication errors resulted in patient harm.

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