Medication Errors

Lessons for Education and Healthcare

Robert Naylor

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9781857759563
• eBook ISBN: 9781315344294
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Service Industry

Adverse events in patients caused by medical management are a serious and grossly underreported public health problem. One patient in ten entering hospital will suffer an adverse event of impairment, disability or death. This book is a major comprehensive examination of the incidence and causes of adverse events. Using data obtained from hospitals within the United Kingdom, United States and other developed countries, it examines the risk factors leading to errors, the human and financial costs, and the scope to reduce errors. In particular, it focuses on the need for a critical reappraisal of undergraduate teaching and clinical tuition. All healthcare professionals throughout primary and secondary care, including clinicians, managers and policy makers, and patient and carer groups, can benefit from reading this book. It identifies possible solutions and how adverse events and medication errors can be reduced, resulting in improved patient care.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• About the author
• Acknowledgements
• List of abbreviations
• 1 The two faces of medicines
• 2 The incidence of adverse events, adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and medication errors in hospitals
• 3 The incidence of adverse drug-induced events/reactions and medication errors in primary care
• 4 The stages at which adverse drug-induced events/reactions and medication errors occur in hospitals
• 5 Types and causes of adverse events and medication errors in hospitals
• 6 Risk factors predisposing to adverse drug events and medication errors
• 7 The cost of medical errors
• 8 Summary of the problem of adverse drug events, medication errors and their cost
• 9 Errors in healthcare: a major cause for concern
• 10 The UK litigation process as a potent tool to influence errors and complaints
• 11 Reducing medical errors
• 12 Implications of error reduction for undergraduate teaching
• 13 Have undergraduate courses failed to deliver students knowledgeable in pharmacology and therapeutics?
• 14 The problematic nature of the preregistration period of general clinical training
• 15 Litigation and negligence
• 16 Implications for professional and continuing education and professional aspirations in healthcare
• 17 Future directions for professional expertise in healthcare: a conundrum
• 18 Conclusions
• Appendix 1 Adverse drug reactions
• Appendix 2 Definitions of causation and preventability scales as used in the Quality in Australian Health Care Study
• Appendix 3 Potential severity classification for order errors
• Appendix 4 Medication error report form
• Appendix 5 An identification of 16 major systems failures underlying the errors and proximal causes of adverse drug events and potential adverse drug events
• Appendix 6 Policy on the rights of patients in medical education
• Appendix 7 Example statements of professional ethics and duties
• Appendix 8 The prevention of intrathecal medication errors: a report to the Chief Medical Officer
• References
• Index