Automated detection of wrong-drug prescribing errors.

Background: To assess the specificity of an algorithm designed to detect look-alike/sound-alike (LASA) medication prescribing errors in electronic health record (EHR) data.

Setting: Urban, academic medical centre, comprising a 495-bed hospital and outpatient clinic running on the Cerner EHR. We extracted 8 years of medication orders and diagnostic claims.

Learning optimal opioid prescribing and monitoring: a simulation study of medical residents.

Objective: Hospitalized patients often receive opioids. There is a lack of consensus regarding evidence-based guidelines or training programs for effective management of pain in the hospital. We investigated the viability of using an Internet-based opioid dosing simulator to teach residents appropriate use of opioids to treat and manage acute pain.

Characterizing the pain score trajectories of hospitalized adult medical and surgical patients: a retrospective cohort study.

Pain care for hospitalized patients is often suboptimal. Representing pain scores as a graphical trajectory may provide insights into the understanding and treatment of pain. We describe a 1-year, retrospective, observational study to characterize pain trajectories of hospitalized adults during the first 48 hours after admission at an urban academic medical center.

Cognitive tests predict real-world errors: the relationship between drug name confusion rates in laboratory-based memory and perception tests and corresponding error rates in large pharmacy chains.

Background: Drug name confusion is a common type of medication error and a persistent threat to patient safety. In the USA, roughly one per thousand prescriptions results in the wrong drug being filled, and most of these errors involve drug names that look or sound alike. Prior to approval, drug names undergo a variety of tests to assess their potential for confusability, but none of these preapproval tests has been shown to predict real-world error rates.

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices and Poison Control Centers: Collaborating to Prevent Medication Errors and Unintentional Poisonings.

This article provides an overview on the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), the only independent nonprofit organization in the USA devoted to the prevention of medication errors. ISMP developed the national Medication Errors Reporting Program (MERP) and investigates and analyzes errors in order to formulate recommendations to prevent further occurrences. ISMP works closely with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), drug manufacturers, professional organizations, and others to promote changes in package design, practice standards, and healthcare practitioner and consumer education.

Establishing an international baseline for medication safety in oncology: Findings from the 2012 ISMP International Medication Safety Self Assessment® for Oncology.

Background: In 2012, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada (ISMP Canada) collaborated with an international panel of oncology practitioners to develop the ISMP International Medication Safety Self Assessment® for Oncology. This self-assessment was designed to assist oncology practitioners in hospitals, ambulatory care centers, and office practice settings throughout the world to evaluate safe practices related to medication use in the oncology setting and to identify opportunities for improvement.

Instrument Design: The self-assessment consists of 175 items organized into 10 key elements subdivided into 18 core characteristics of safe medication use.

Assessing the state of safe medication practices using the ISMP Medication Safety Self Assessment for Hospitals: 2000 and 2011.

Background: Since development of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) Medication Safety Self Assessment for Hospitals in 2000, hospitals have used the tool to assess medication safety practices and identify opportunities for improvement. The Assessment was updated in 2011 to create a new baseline of hospital medication safety efforts and determine if progress has been achieved in the interim.

Methods: Hospitals in the United States were asked to voluntarily complete the 2011 Assessment and submit their data confidentially to ISMP from April to October 2011.

Current practices for labeling medications in hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Background: Good medication labeling practices are imperative to ensure safe medication use. Non-adherence to labeling protocols is reported as one major source of medication errors.

Objective: This study was intended to evaluate and compare adherence to labeling guidelines for dispensed medications among the hospitals of the five different health sectors in the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Comparative risks of non-prescription analgesics: a structured topic review and research priorities.

Objective: The aims of this report are to quantify and compare competing risks associated with the use of non-prescription analgesics (daily doses of acetaminophen ≤ 4000 mg, aspirin ≤ 4000 mg, ibuprofen ≤ 1200 mg, naproxen ≤ 660 mg and ketoprofen ≤ 75 mg) and identify research needs.

Methods: Literature was searched and organized by medication, adverse effect and direction of effect. Causality was determined using structured consensus, using IOM and GRADE nomenclature.

Making inpatient medication reconciliation patient centered, clinically relevant, and implementable: a consensus statement on key principles and necessary first steps.

This white paper identifies potential solutions to help ensure the utility and sustainability of this critical patient safety issue.

Making inpatient medication reconciliation patient centered, clinically relevant and implementable: a consensus statement on key principles and necessary first steps.

Medication errors and adverse events caused by them are common during and after a hospitalization. The impact of these events on patient welfare and the financial burden, both to the patient and the healthcare system, are significant. In 2005, The Joint Commission put forth medication reconciliation as National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) No.

Harmful medication errors involving unfractionated and low-molecular-weight heparin in three patient safety reporting programs.

Background: External reporting of medical errors a adverse events enables learning from the errors of others in the pursuit of systems-level improvements that can prevent future errors. It is logical to presume that medication errors involving the use of anticoagulants, among the most frequently cited product classes involved in harmful medication errors, would be captured in a variety of patient safety reporting programs.

Methods: Data on reported errors involving the anticoagulant heparin were reviewed, compared, and aggregated from the databases of three large patient safety reporting programs-MEDMARX, the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority's Patient Safety Reporting System, and the University Health System Consortium, together representing more than 1,000 reporting organizations for 2005

Results: Approximately 300,000 medication errors and near misses were reported to the programs, and 10,359-a mean of 3.

Best Practices in Clinical Decision Support: the Case of Preventive Care Reminders.

BACKGROUND: Evidence demonstrates that clinical decision support (CDS) is a powerful tool for improving healthcare quality and ensuring patient safety. However, implementing and maintaining effective decision support interventions presents multiple technical and organizational challenges. PURPOSE: To identify best practices for CDS, using the domain of preventive care reminders as an example.

Oncology medication safety: a 3D status report 2008.

Background: The safe use of medications is a major concern in oncology practice. Three organizations collaborated on a survey to determine if practitioners had implemented current recommended safe practices for IV vincristine administration, general oncology safe practices, and safe practices for oral chemotherapy.

Methods: A survey was distributed to members of the Hematology Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA) and the International Society of Pharmacy Practitioners (ISOPP) using Survey Monkey.

Findings from the ISMP Medication Safety Self-Assessment for hospitals.

Background: Hospital medication practices should be assessed, awareness of the characteristics of a safe medication system heightened, and baseline data to identify national priorities established.

Design: A cross-sectional survey of U.S.

Practical guide to bar coding for patient medication safety.

Bar coding for the medication administration step of the drug-use process is discussed. FDA will propose a rule in 2003 that would require bar-code labels on all human drugs and biologicals. Even with an FDA mandate, manufacturer procrastination and possible shifts in product availability are likely to slow progress.