Reducing medication errors in critical care: a multimodal approach

Abstract

The Institute of Medicine has reported that medication errors are the single most common type of error in health care, representing 19% of all adverse events, while accounting for over 7,000 deaths annually. The frequency of medication errors in adult intensive care units can be as high as 947 per 1,000 patient-days, with a median of 105.9 per 1,000 patient-days. The formulation of drugs is a potential contributor to medication errors. Challenges related to drug formulation are specific to the various routes of medication administration, though errors associated with medication appearance and labeling occur among all drug formulations and routes of administration. Addressing these multifaceted challenges requires a multimodal approach. Changes in technology, training, systems, and safety culture are all strategies to potentially reduce medication errors related to drug formulation in the intensive care unit.

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Keywords:

• medication safety
• drug design
• drug formulation
• patient safety

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Claire Levine, MS, ELS, from the Johns Hopkins Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine for her tremendous assistance with the preparation of the manuscript.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.