What Are Medication Errors?

Medication errors are preventable events that cause medical injury to patients during the course of drug treatment by medical professionals, patients, or consumers inappropriately using drugs. The occurrence of such incidents may be related to professional medical behaviors, health and medical products (drugs, drug delivery devices, etc.) and work processes, including the issuance of prescriptions, the establishment and communication of medical orders, product identification, packaging and naming, and the adjustment of drugs. , Distribution and administration, patient safety education and drug therapy monitoring.

Chinese name: Medication error
Foreign name: medication errors

Features: Preventable event

1. Medication error 1. medication error grading

According to the classification method of the medication error reporting system in the United States, medication errors are classified into 9 grades (A to I) according to the degree of damage to the patient's body, of which A is not damaged, B to H is damaged and I is dead.

Class A error: environment or event may cause error.

Class B error: The error did not affect the patient.

Class C error: No damage to the patient.

D-level error: No damage to patient, but monitoring required.

Class E error: Causes transient damage to the patient and requires treatment or intervention.

Class F error: causes temporary damage to the patient and requires hospitalization or extended hospital stay.

G-level errors: cause permanent damage to the patient.

H-level errors: Life-threatening events, such as anaphylactic shock, arrhythmia.

Class I error: Causes patient death.

2. Medication errors 2. Classification of medication errors:

Divided into internal errors and go-out errors. Internal errors occurred during the drug dispensing process and were found and corrected by me or other staff in the department in a timely manner, and no uncorrectable consequences occurred. Out-of-home errors occurred during the drug dispensing process. , Nurses, patients, or medical departments and other management departments found and reported errors in medication errors occurred during the entire medication process of prescription (or doctor's order), transcription, formulation, administration and monitoring. Medication errors can be classified as follows according to the medication stage. These include the following:

2.1 Medication errors 2.1 Prescription errors

Errors occurred in prescription writing, drug selection, dosage, dosage form, route, drip rate, etc.

2.2 Medication errors 2.2 Formula errors

Dispensing the wrong medicine, dosage, dosage form, improper preparation, labeling, packaging, dispensing medicines that are improperly stored or deteriorated, and expired.

2.3 Medication errors 2.3 Dosing errors

(1) Mistake in medication Mistake of medication in other patients.

(2) Unused medication errors This refers to medications given to patients without a physician's prescription, including continued use of discontinued medications.

(3) Dose error dose is greater than or less than the prescribed dose or repeated medication.

(4) Incorrect route The route of medication is not the route prescribed by the prescription, or the route is correct but the location is wrong.

(5) Rate errors are common in intravenous drip.

(6) Dosage errors include crushing tablets without the consent of the prescriber.

(7) Time errors are not administered at prescribed time intervals.

(8) An error occurred in the preparation of the wrong medicine when it was dissolved or diluted, or its compatibility changed.

(9) Improper operation techniques, such as incorrect operation of the infusion pump and unsterilized injection site.

(10) Misuse of the application of bad medicines Use of improperly stored medicines or bad or expired medicines.

2.4 Medication errors 2.4 Monitoring errors

No evaluation of drug treatment protocols or clinical or laboratory data was made.

3. Medication errors 3. Reasons for medication errors

3.1 physician prescription error

3.2 Pharmacist deployment errors

3.3 Nurse medication errors

3.4 Patient medication errors

4. Medication errors 4. Precautions

4.1 To prevent medication errors, a physician must first issue a correct and standardized prescription or order to prevent misunderstandings by pharmacists and nurses;

4.2 In addition to the correct deployment, pharmacists have the responsibility to prevent patients from using the wrong medicine;

4.3 The nurse bears the responsibility of clinical medication and drug effectiveness monitoring;

4.4 Prevention of medication errors for patients Strengthen the medication education for patients and check the patients. Medical care, nursing, and medicine should pay attention to and ensure that patients use medicine correctly, and teach patients to use medicine correctly.

5 Summary of medication errors 5:

In our country, the establishment of medication error monitoring is a groundbreaking systematic project that must be considered from multiple aspects. With the increasing variety of drugs, there are more and more types and causes of medication errors. The monitoring and intervention of medication errors has become an unavoidable and must-solve problem in China. To learn from advanced foreign experience and improve the monitoring and intervention of medication errors in China, we can finally ensure the safety of medication for patients.