Right Dose, Right Drug: WHO Challenges Hospitals To Cut Med Errors In Half
Worldwide, medication errors cause at least one death per day and cost an estimated $43 billion annually (1% of global health expenditures). In the U.S. alone, 1.3 million people are injured annually due to medication errors. All these errors are potentially avoidable, says the WHO, so long as the right systems and procedures are put into action.
Proposed Seven-Day Limit To Opioid Bill Enters Congress
A proposed Senate bill limits the amount of opioids a patient can initially receive for acute pain. If passed, physicians will only be able to prescribe seven days’ worth of opioids when first treating a patient’s condition.
Use Barbiturate Recall To Remind Staff To Be Alert For Mislabeled Drugs
Remind nurses and other clinicians to remain alert for medication errors, including mislabeled products. And empower them to say something if they suspect a problem.
WHO Announces Effort to Reduce Medication Errors
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced a new global initiative earlier this month, one that aims to halve the rate of medication errors by 2022.
Using Information From External Errors to Signal a “Clear and Present Danger”
To best promote patient safety, it is crucial to seek out information about external errors, to hold on to your initial feelings of surprise and uncertainty when you read about these errors, and to resist the temptation to gloss over what happened or attribute the problem to an individual different than you.
ISMP’s Targeted Medication Safety Best Practices for 2017
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) released its 2016–2017 Targeted Medication Safety Best Practices for Hospitals guide in December 2015. This year there were five new best practices and two revised out of 11 total.
Former FDA Chief Cites 5 Things To Watch On Drug Approvals and Keeping Drugs Safe
The just-departed commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration has concerns about plans to speed up drug approvals and dramatically reduce regulations at the agency, as advocated recently by President Donald Trump.
Achieving Real-Time Respiratory Depression Surveillance of Post-Surgical Patients
More hospitals and health systems are waking up to the risks of under-monitoring patients at risk for respiratory depression.
Do Not Let “Depo-” Medications Be a Depot for Mistakes
The problem: Today, several longstanding medications are available on the market with names that begin with the prefix “Depo-,” meaning they are administered via a depot injection that deposits the drug into localized tissue from which it is gradually absorbed by surrounding tissue.
HHS: $28 Billion Saved Through Patient Safety Efforts
Efforts to improve patient safety are paying off, according to a new Health and Human Services (HHS) department report.