Pharmacists on high-risk clinical wards reduce prescribing errors, evidence review finds Researchers used data from 19 studies to identify the most common factors that increase the chance of prescribing errors.…
We audited our vancomycin patients, with some surprising results When an audit of 25 patients found that none were given vancomycin in accordance with trust guidelines, Uwaise Rehman and colleagues uncovered a number of reasons why.…
Errors and the inappropriate use of medicines in UK care homes Medication errors can have serious consequences for the residents of care homes, who are often older and in poor health. This systematic review investigates how common medication errors are in this setting.…
Drug shortages linked with medication errors, study results suggest Data from the French Pharmacovigilance Database show that medication errors were identified in 11% of the 462 cases mentioning a drug shortage.…
Electronic prescribing systems should consider patients’ weight for supply of oral paracetamol, concludes report The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch issued the recommendation after a coroner concluded that a patient was prescribed a dose of oral paracetamol that was too high, which contributed to her death.…
Access to pharmacists at all times would reduce medication errors in hospital, concludes review The review also said that wider implementation of electronic prescribing systems and an integrated electronic health record could help reduce errors.…
LloydsPharmacy reduces amlodipine and amitriptyline dispensing errors by 77% The multiple's Safer Care patient safety programme, aimed to eliminate look-alike, sound-alike dispensing errors, achieved a significant reduction in mistakes in 2020.…
Families are struggling to use medicines at home — we must truly involve them in their own safety Surprisingly few medicine errors in children in the home setting are reported, yet evidence suggests that parents sometimes struggle here. We can tackle this hidden medicines safety issue by putting families’ insight at the heart of our interventions.…
NHS investigation body launches inquiry into medication errors in children The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch will explore the risks of medication errors occurring, following an incident involving a child aged four years.…
Pharmacist-led feedback for prescribers cuts errors in hospital, study suggests A pharmacist-led feedback intervention, aimed at supporting prescribers, resulted in a significant reduction in prescribing errors in hospital, a study has found.…
