Using Technology in Medication Administration...

This 480 page e-book (also available in print version from National Academies Press) provides guidance on how to implement error prevention strategies in hospitals, long term care, and ambulatory care. Establishing and maintaining a strong provider­patient part nership is a key approach for reducing medication errors.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services sponsored this study by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) with the aim of developing a national agenda for reducing medication errors based on estimates of the incidence of such errors and evidence on the efficacy of various prevention strategies.

Introduction

Since 1994 the Institute for Safe Medication Practices has provided guidance on eliminating medication errors through newsletters, journal articles, and communications with health care professionals and regulatory authorities. In 1996 the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reduction and Prevention began publishing a series of recommendations on strategies for reducing medication errors (NCCMERP, 2005)

The IOM convened the Committee on Identifying and Preventing Medication Errors to conduct this study, with the following charge: · To develop a fuller understanding of drug safety and quality issues through the conduct of an evidence-based review of the literature, case studies and analysis. This review will consider the nature and causes of medication errors; their impact on patients; and the differences in causation, impact and prevention across multiple dimensions of health care delivery including patient populations, care settings, clinicians, and institutional cultures.

Click to Read more about Preventing Medication Errors in NAC's online version of this free to read book.