For their study, researchers assessed 13,932 medication errors from 496 EDs. The results include the following:
• Physicians were responsible for 24 percent of errors, while nurses were responsible for 54 percent of errors.
• Medication errors most commonly occurred in the administration phase.
• The most frequent type of error was improper dose or quantity, with leading causes for medication errors being failure to follow procedure or protocol (17 percent) and poor communication (11 percent).
• Corrective actions as a result of a medication error included informing the staff member who made the error (26 percent), improving communication (26 percent) and additional training (12 percent).
• Patients and/or their family members were notified of the medication error 2.7 percent of the time.
Read the study about medication errors in emergency departments.
Related Articles on Medication Errors:
Technical Error Causes Baby’s Death at Illinois’ Advocate Lutheran General
Pennsylvania Dept. of Health: Lehigh Valley Patient Died From Fatal Medication Error
Journal Article Outlines “Principles of Conservative Prescribing”
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