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Help prevent medication errors at your facility

Nurse Leader Weekly, September 11, 2006

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The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has released a report and series of recommendations to help prevent medication errors. The report, titled Preventing Medication Errors, is the latest in the institute's "Quality Chasm" series, and estimates that medication errors harm 1.5 million people in the United States every year. Of those errors, about 400,000 are made in hospitals. The report claims that there's a medication error for every patient per day in American hospitals.

The disturbing results are accompanied by several recommendations for patients, hospitals, physicians, caregivers, manufacturers, and the federal government.

What frontline staff can do

For nurses, physicians, and other healthcare workers, the report recommends improving communication with patients. Getting patients the proper information about their medications is the best way to ensure proper administration both in the hospital and at home. The same lessons hold true for long-term healthcare workers.

The report also recommends that healthcare providers take the time to explain medications to patients in a way that's easy to understand. That may mean taking different approaches with different patients.

Healthcare workers should also provide patients with "information about side effects, contraindications, and how to handle adverse reactions, as well as where to obtain additional objective, high-quality information," according to the report. Providers are also expected to consult with patients on medications and should provide help to the patient with medications both in the hospital, during discharge, and while the patient orders medications at the pharmacy.

Talking points for healthcare providers

The report lists several discussion points for healthcare workers to review with patients and their families. These points include the following:

• Talk to patients about their list of medications during transitions in care
• Explain the different treatment options available to the patient
• Tell patients the name and purpose of their different medications
• Explain how to take the medications (e.g., time of day, whether they should be taken with food)
• Disclose any possible side effects to the patient, and what should be done if these occur
• Explain how drugs, food, and different diseases may interact
• Describe the patient's (and his or her family member's or caregiver's) role in appropriately using medications
• Explain how the prescribed medication fits in with the overall plan for the patient's health

Editor's note: This excerpt was adapted from Briefings on Patient Safety, September 2006, HCPro, Inc.

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