Current

The term “polypharmacy” first appeared in the literature in the 1800’s and was used to describe the use of multiple medications to treat a single condition. Since then, “polypharmacy” has been used to refer to many situations, including getting medications from more than one pharmacy and using more than one medication to treat a single condition. However, the most commonly used definition refers to a situation where a patient is being treated with many—five or more—medications.^1,2

Accurate patient information (e.g., age, allergies, laboratory results) helps practitioners select appropriate medications, doses, and routes of administration.¹ One vital piece of patient information, the patient’s weight, is especially important because it is used to calculate the appropriate dose of a medication (e.g., mg/kg, mcg/ kg, mg/m2). A prescribed or dispensed medication dose can differ significantly from the appropriate dose because of a missing or inaccurate patient weight.

Statement Advocating Against the Use of Medication Error Rates Based on Voluntarily Reported Errors to Compare Health Care Organizations

These recommendations apply to healthcare systems, hospital systems, individual hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other organized health care settings. ¹

The Council recommends the following:

Personnel to whom this applies: 1) pharmacy staff, including pharmacists and pharmacy technicians; 2) nursing staff who use automated dispensing machines/cabinets; 3) nurse managers who use pharmacy stock after hours; 3) physicians who dispense from their offices and 4) healthcare administrators/managers.

Personnel to whom this applies: 1) nursing staff involved in administration of medications; 2) prescribers and other personnel involved in administration of medications (e.g., respiratory therapists, non-licensed personnel who are delegated tasks by a licensed professional, and others); 3) pharmacy staff; and 4) healthcare administrators/managers.

These recommendations apply to manufacturers and regulators involved in the production of medication.
 

Numerous medication errors associated with the use of modifiers in drug proprietary names have been reported through various reporting programs including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) MedWatch Reporting Program and the ISMP National Medication Errors Reporting Program (ISMP MERP). 
 

Factors that contribute to medication errors associated with the use of modifiers in drug proprietary names include:

Statement

The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention advocates the elimination of prescription time guarantees and a strengthened focus on the clinical, accuracy and safety activities of pharmacists within all pharmacy practice settings especially the community pharmacy setting.

Background

Preamble