clinical pharmacology: safe prescribing Flashcards
1
Q
what is medication error?
A
preventable event that may lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm
2
Q
what can medication error events be related to?
A
- professional practice
- health care products
- procedures and systems
- labelling
- dispensing
- distribution
- administration
- education
- monitoring
3
Q
what are examples of medication errors?
A
giving patient wrong drug or dose
4
Q
what things increase the risk of medication errors?
A
- new drug developments
- increasing complexity of medical care, specialisation
people causes:
- fatigue, hunger, concentration, stress, distraction
- lack of training, lack of access to information
5
Q
what are the 5Rs that should be remembered when administering medication?
A
- right patient
- right drug
- right dose
- right route
- right time
6
Q
what are different types of errors?
A
- surgery (most common)
- drugs
- therapeutic
- diagnostic
7
Q
what patients are most at risk of errors?
A
- undergoing cardiothoracic, vascular or neurosurgery
- complex conditions
- emergency room
- looked after by inexperienced doctors
- older patients
8
Q
what are examples of common prescribing errors?
A
- wrong drug/ dose/ route
- inappropriate units
- illegible prescription
- drug interactions
- calculation errors
9
Q
what can be done to reduce the risk of prescribing errors?
A
- write legibly
- avoid abbreviations + decimal points
- always check patient information
10
Q
what are examples of drug formularies where information can be found?
A
- national formularies (such as BNF)
- Grampian joint formulary
- WHO
