Recommendations to Reduce Medication Errors in Non-Health Care Settings
Background
Medications are often stored and administered in a variety of non-health care settings. These settings include:
Current
Reducing Medication Errors Associated with At-risk Behaviors by Healthcare Professionals
Background
It is human nature to look for quicker and easier ways to accomplish tasks, but these actions may lead to, or be a result of, at-risk behaviors. At-risk behaviors are actions taken by some healthcare practitioners that could compromise patient safety.
Statement Opposing the Criminalization of Errors in Healthcare
Statement
The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention opposes the criminalization of errors in healthcare.
Background
The Council acknowledges that human error is inadvertent and unintentional.1 Criminalizing human error is a deterrent to error reporting, learning from errors, and error prevention. As a result, unsafe systems may be perpetuated rather than improved. Criminal acts and patient harm related to competency and/or licensure issues are not addressed in this statement as they are beyond the Council's purview.
Recommendations to Enhance Accuracy of Prescription/Medication Order Writing
Personnel to whom this applies: prescribers; nursing or pharmacy staff (who transcribe verbal prescription orders or rewrite transfer or admission orders when entering or leaving a health care facility); health care administrators/managers.
Types of Medication Errors
In 1996, the Council realized the need for a standardized categorization of errors. In October 2022, the NCC MERP revised the Medication Error Index that classifies an error according to the severity of the outcome. It is hoped that the index will help health care practitioners and institutions to track medication errors in a consistent, systematic manner.