CH 6 Medication Errors and Risk Reduction

Question 1

Taking medications in the manner prescribed by the health care provider, or in the case of OTC drugs, following the instructions on the label or as provided by the prescriber; also called compliance:

Answer 1

Adherence

Question 2

A tool that helps health care agencies identify processes where errors may occur related to prescription, dispensing, and administration:

Answer 2

Health care failure mode and effect analysis (HFMEA).

Question 3

Drugs that have a high risk of causing significant harm to the patient when used in error:

Answer 3

High-alert medications

Question 4

Legal documentation of all pharmacotherapies received by the patient:

Answer 4

Medication administration record (MAR)

Question 5

Any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care provider, patient, or consumer:

Answer 5

Medication error

Question 6

Categorization of medication errors according to the degree of harm an error can cause:

Answer 6

Medication error index

Question 7

The process of keeping track of a patient’s medications as the patient’s care proceeds from one health care provider to another:

Answer 7

Medication reconciliation

Question 8

Taking multiple drugs concurrently:

Answer 8

Polypharmacy

Question 9

System of reducing medication errors by modifying policies and procedures within the institution:

Answer 9

Risk management

Question 10

Attempts to focus attention on the causes of the medication error, rather than on the person responsible for the error:

Answer 10

Root-cause analysis (RCA)

Question 11

An unexpected death or injury, or the risk of death or injury from medication errors:

Answer 11

Sentinel event