Government ‘examining’ medication pack barcode requirements Exclusive: The Department of Health and Social Care has told The Pharmaceutical Journal that since “patient safety is paramount”, it will investigate which barcodes are required on medicines packaging.…
Digital systems in general practice could reduce medication errors Across the 74 randomised controlled trials under review, the most frequent intervention component was clinical decision support systems, which was mentioned in 59 papers.…
Are electronic prescribing systems increasing the risk of ‘look-alike sound-alike’ medication errors? Electronic prescribing and medication systems have been heralded for their potential to reduce medication errors, but they also make it easy to select the wrong drug. Has their implementation made it more likely for ‘look-alike sound-alike’ errors to occur?…
Manufacturer to warn of fatal adverse reactions from blood-clotting drug and anaesthetic mix-ups A letter from Pfizer cautions healthcare professionals to use extreme caution when storing, handling and administrating IV formulations of tranexamic acid.…
Post-discharge medication errors disproportionately affect patients with dementia Data from 263 patients who were discharged from hospital in a one-year period revealed that one in ten medication actions were not completed, with no explanation recorded in the patient record.…
The value of leadership in medication safety Pharmacy leadership is central to reducing medication harm, empowering staff and delivering high-value safety improvements across the NHS, argues Tony Jamieson.…
PJ view: Regulations around AI use in pharmacy are needed now before technology advances further While AI presents time-saving opportunities for pharmacists, there are potential risks that must be considered.…
Understanding human factors in patient safety when prescribing How human factors can help in developing safe prescribing practices and reduce error risk.…
NSAID prescribing in high-risk groups is a major source of avoidable harm, study finds The study estimated that the practice could have caused more than 6,000 lost years of good health across England over a ten-year period.…
Adopting a quality improvement approach to patient safety incidents How pharmacists can support the implementation of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework and drive continuous improvement.…
