What is the most common denominator in medication errors? Poor communication about prescribed medicines at key transition points of the medication use and reconciliation process: admission, transfers between care settings, and discharge.

For clinical leaders involved in decisions about patient flow and intensive care bed utilization, these are challenging times. Capacity management and the allocation of intensive care unit beds are frequently debated

This study examines attitudes towards safety and teamwork in eight rural hospitals in Mississippi. While studies have focused on attitudes of hospital workers towards patient safety and teamwork in urban areas and/or specialized units of care (USDA, 2003; Ricketts et al., 1999; IOM, 2005), few studies measure such attitudes in rural areas.

A 52-year-old heart transplant patient was admitted to the hospital with fever and fatigue. Upon further evaluation, he was found to have severe pancytopenia. The patient had been taking several immunosuppressant medications including cyclosporine, azathioprine, and prednisione.

Inability to access and manage drug information effectively can directly affect the safety of medication administration. Landmark research studies demonstrate that 35% of all preventable adverse drug events…

Thank you for the informative article by Carolyn M. Clancy, MD, entitled “Medication Reconciliation: Progress Realized, Challenges Ahead” (July/August, 2006). In addition to ensuring accuracy in a patient’s drug type and making dosage available at key points in the healthcare continuum, medication reconciliation also reduces the risk of medication errors.

In 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System. The report alleged between 44,000 and 98,000 people die unnecessarily in hospitals in the United States each year due to medical errors.

As the 109th Congress slowly draws to a close, there’s no doubt that enormous opportunities still exist for transforming healthcare with health information technology (HIT), regardless of partisan issues and politics.

On August 22, 2006, President Bush issued an executive order on “transparency of healthcare quality and pricing.”

In October, I spent a couple of days caring for a friend undergoing high-dose chemotherapy and stem cell replacement as an outpatient. My responsibilities were very simple, and in performing the most clinical of my duties — dispensing medications — I committed an error.