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Medication Errors and Patient Safety Concerns
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mp 1 Introduction
mp 2 Root cause analysis
mp 3 Causes of medical errors
mp 4 Handwriting
mp 5 Hands-off communications
Causes of medical errors
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mp6 Medication errors
mp 7 Abbreviations
mp 8 Critical test results and values
mp 9 Nosocomial infections
mp Summary
Medication Errors and Patient Safety Concerns

There is a growing consensus that medical errors must be eliminated, and the federal government, accreditation agencies, and state legislatures are passing regulations to spur improvement in patient safety. The 8 primary causes of medical error are communication problems, inadequate information flow, human problems, patient-related problems, organizational transfer of knowledge, staffing pattern/work flow; technical failure; and inadequate policies. There are a number of areas of concern in decreasing medical errors: identification; handwriting; verbal/telephone orders and reporting; hands-off communications; medication errors; wrong route errors; abbreviations; critical test results and values; wrong site, wrong procedure, wrong person surgery; and nosocomial infections. Nurses must be proactive in efforts to reduce medical error.

References

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(2003). Retrieved June 8, 2008, from http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/pscongrpt/

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Joint Commission Perspectives on Patient Safety 5 (7): 11. Retrieved June 5, 2008, from http://www.jcipatientsafety.org/fpdf/psp/Handoff.pdf

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Encyclopedia of Nursing & Allied Health. Retrieved June 10, 2008, from http://www.enotes.com/nursing-encyclopedia/intravenous-medication-administration

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