Preventing Medication Errors
Medication errors are all too common, jeopardizing the safety of patients; it may be a misinterpretation of a prescription, not having a complete history of a patient and dispensing drugs that could interact with other drugs adversely, or a patient administering the medication incorrectly, which are all preventable.
There are numerous ways of preventing medication errors; therefore, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) has recognized ten important factors that lead to errors. Anderson & Townsend, (2010) list them as: “patient information, drug information, adequate communication, drug packaging (labeling, nomenclature), medication storage (stock, standardization, and distribution), drug device acquisition (use and monitoring),
There are numerous ways of preventing medication errors; therefore, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) has recognized ten important factors that lead to errors. Anderson & Townsend, (2010) list them as: “patient information, drug information, adequate communication, drug packaging (labeling, nomenclature), medication storage (stock, standardization, and distribution), drug device acquisition (use and monitoring),