Reducing medication errors: a regional approach for hospitals.

Since the Institute of Medicine's report, To Err Is Human, and the subsequent publication, Crossing the Quality Chasm, the subject of reducing medical errors has gained considerable attention from patients, healthcare providers, employers and government organisations in the US. Most nonoperative errors are related to medications. Medication errors lead not only to negative repercussions subjectively experienced by both the patient and the healthcare staff, but also to additional expenditures due to complications.