药物微泵标识在重症监护病房病人用药安全管理中的应用

[目的]探讨药物微泵标识在重症监护病房(ICU)病人用药安全管理中的应用。[方法]分析影响安全用药因素,制订药物标识化管理制度,实行药物微泵标识管理,并进行持续质量改进。[结果]ICU微泵用药安全性提高,未发生相关微泵药物不良事件。[结论]在ICU病人用药安全管理中应用便捷的药物微泵标识,可以降低微泵用药差错的发生,提高用药安全。     

Medication errors in emergency rooms, intensive care units and pediatric wards

Medication safety is a major concern worldwide that directly relates to patient care quality and safety. Reducing medication error incidents is a critical medication safety issue. This literature review article summarizes medication error issues related specifically to three hospital units, namely emergency rooms (ERs), intensive care units (ICUs), and pediatric wards. Time constrains, lack of patient history details and the frequent need to use rapid response life-saving medications are key factors behind high ER medication error rates. Patient hypo-responsiveness, complex medication administration and frequent need to use high-alert medications are key factors behind high ICU medication error rates. Medication error in pediatric wards are often linked to errors made by nurses in calculating dosage based on patient body weight. This article summarizes the major types of medication errors reported by these three units in order to increase nurse awareness of medication errors and further encourage nurses to apply proper standard operational procedures to medication administration.     

Smart infusion technology: a minimum safety standard for intensive care?

There is overwhelming evidence that medication errors present a risk to patients. This risk is highest in the intensive care unit (ICU) setting and even greater when medications are administered via an infusion pump. Standard pumps will not alert for, or prevent, drug calculation, drug unit, button push, or multiple of ten errors when medication delivery data is inputted. However, the literature suggests that smart pumps programmed with hard (unchangeable) limits can significantly reduce drug errors at the point of administration. Staff at St George's Hospital paediatric ICU wanted to implement an infusion pump system that would be immediately effective in reducing medication errors at the point of administration. This article presents an overview of the relevant literature together with clinical examples from the authors' ICU, which demonstrates their experiences with smart pumps. It is the authors' firm belief that smart infusion technology sets a new minimum safety standard for intensive care.     

Application of the 80/20 rule in safeguarding the use of high-alert medications

Critical care units are busy, complicated settings where the margins of error are narrow and the challenges to patient safety are ever present. Applying the 80/20 rule, front-line nurses can reduce medication errors by focusing on the safe use of "high-alert" medications. There are three primary principles that practitioners can use for safeguarding against medication errors that may result from high-alert drugs. These include: reducing or eliminating the possibility of errors, making errors visible, and minimizing the consequences of errors. These principles constitute a framework of safety that guides the development of proactive error reduction strategies.     

Clinical review: Medication errors in critical care

Medication errors in critical care are frequent, serious, and predictable. Critically ill patients are prescribed twice as many medications as patients outside of the intensive care unit (ICU) and nearly all will suffer a potentially life-threatening error at some point during their stay. The aim of this article is to provide a basic review of medication errors in the ICU, identify risk factors for medication errors, and suggest strategies to prevent errors and manage their consequences.     

Medication reconciliation: a practical tool to reduce the risk of medication errors

Preventable adverse drug events are associated with one out of five injuries or deaths. Estimates reveal that 46% of medication errors occur on admission or discharge from a clinical unit/hospital when patient orders are written. This study was performed to reduce medication errors in patient’s discharge orders through a reconciliation process in an adult surgical intensive care unit (ICU). A discharge survey was implemented as part of the medication reconciliation process. The admitting nurse initiated the survey within 24 hours of ICU admission and the charge nurse completed the survey on discharge. Baseline data were obtained through a random sampling of 10% of discharges in first 2 weeks of the study (July 2001-May 2002). Medical and anesthesia records were reviewed, allergies and home medications verified with patient/family and findings compared with orders at time of ICU discharge. Baseline data revealed that 31 of 33 (94%) patients had orders changed. By week 24, nearly all medication errors in discharge orders were eliminated. In conclusion, use of the discharge survey in this medication reconciliation process resulted in a dramatic drop in medications errors for patients discharged from an ICU. The survey is now a part of our electronic medical record and used in 4 adult ICUs and 2 medicine floors.     

Des RMM à la conception d’indicateurs de qualité et de sécurité : dix ans de travaux sur les RMM en réanimation

The intensive care unit (ICU) is an important source of life-threatening adverse events (AE), despite the monitored environment and the high density of caregivers. Indeed, ICUs are identified as high-risk settings, due to the complexity of the diagnostic or therapeutic procedures, the multiplicity of actors involved in decision management, and the multiple severe organ failures in ICU patients. Since the publication of the Institute of Medicine’s ground-breaking report, To Err is Human, Building a Safer Health Care System, in 1999, prospective studies have shown a highly variable rate of AE in ICU, according to the type of AE reported, and most of whom were medication administration errors. Medical error occurs during the implementation phase of health care procedures in about three-quarter of all cases in the ICU and there would be a cumulative effect on the risk of error. Ways of improving the systems for preventing and limiting the effects of in-ICU AE have become a major concern in the last two decades. Efficiency of medical practices founded on the evidence-based medicine matches with the standards recognized by the Health Care Authorities to promote quality of care. However, the efficiency and continuous improvement of the quality of care is insufficient for a full understanding of the concept of patient safety. Indeed, patient safety includes the effort to reduce or eliminate potentially preventable AE. Automation, computerization, double checking, and bundles of care also reduce the human errors but have limitations. A system-based approach where the determination of how the error occurred is important, as is the case in standardized mortality and morbidity conferences, which support quality improvement and safety culture in the ICU.     

Doctor-Related Medication Safety Incidents on a Specialist Palliative Medicine Inpatient Unit: A Retrospective Analysis of Three Years of Voluntary Reporting

Patients receiving palliative care and those at the end of life are known to be susceptible to medical errors. Errors related to medications are the most avoidable cause of patient harm. This retrospective study examined reported anonymized medication safety incidents, related to physician errors, assessed by the risk committee in a specialist palliative care unit over a 3-year time period. The aim of the study was to describe medication errors, with specific attention paid to what type of errors occurred and when these errors happened. Of the 218 reported medication safety incidents 28% (n = 62) were related to doctor prescribing. The data showed that there was a wide variation per year in the numbers of reported medication safety incidents. Medication prescribing errors were the most common error, followed by medication omissions. Medication safety incidents are at least in part dependent on staff reporting. Fostering a culture of openness that is blame free is crucial to medication error reporting. Formal reporting may help to increase patient safety and forms an essential element in the clinical governance and risk management of an institution.     

A medication safety education program to reduce the risk of harm caused by medication errors

A medication safety education program was developed and implemented to reduce the harm caused to patients by medication errors, specifically errors related to the intravenous infusion of high-alert medications. Participants were required to complete two 30-minute computer modules focusing on medication safety. Changes in the climate of safety, nurses' knowledge and behavior, and the number of infusion pump alerts and reported medication errors were evaluated both before and after completion of the education program. A statistically significant change in knowledge regarding medication errors occurred, but there was no change in the climate of safety scores, the use of behaviors advocated in the medication safety education program to improve medication infusion safety, the number of infusion pump alerts, or the number of reported errors. It was concluded that there was a need for strong administrative support and follow-up to foster changes in behavior, which can lead to a reduction in harm caused by medication errors.     

An intravenous medication safety system: preventing high-risk medication errors at the point of care

Improving medication safety at the point of care--particularly for high-risk drugs--is a major concern of nursing administrators. The medication errors most likely to cause harm are administration errors related to infusion of high-risk medications. An intravenous medication safety system is designed to prevent high-risk infusion medication errors and to capture continuous quality improvement data for best practice improvement. Initial testing with 50 systems in 2 units at Vanderbilt University Medical Center revealed that, even in the presence of a fully mature computerized prescriber order-entry system, the new safety system averted 99 potential infusion errors in 8 months.     

Actuaciones ante sucesos adversos: Cuidados enfermeros en la rotura del catéter venoso central

In a intensive care unit (ICU) there are many factors that can lead to the occurrence of adverse events. A high percentage of these events are associated with the administration of drugs. Diagnostic tests, such as computed tomography, is common in critically ill patients and technique can be performed with injection of contrast agent to enhance the visualization of soft tissue. The contrast is a medication and the nurse is responsible for its proper administration. The management of the critically ill patient is complex. ICU team and radiology shares responsibility for the care and safety of the patient safety during the transfer and performing tests with contrast. The World Health Organisation patient safety strategies, recommends analysing errors and learning from them. Therefore, it was decided to investigate the causes of the category E severity adverse events that occurred in a patient who was admitted to the ICU for septic shock of abdominal origin. An abdominal computed tomography was performed with contrast which was injected through a central venous catheter. The contrast did not appear in the image. What happened? Causal analysis helped to understand what triggered the event. A care plan and an algorithm were drafted to prevent it from happening again, with the following objectives: improving knowledge, skills and promoting positive attitudes towards patient safety, working at primary, secondary and tertiary care levels.     

Linking nurse characteristics, team member effectiveness, practice environment, and medication error incidence

Clinical unit nurse characteristics, practice environment, and team member effectiveness are assumed to play a critical role in medication safety. This study used a multimethod approach to examine the association of these factors with medication errors. Findings suggested that older, more experienced registered nurses made less medication errors. Environment and team member effectiveness were not strongly associated with medication error incidence. Numerous system factors limited implementation and outcomes of this safety study and are discussed.     

Medication errors at the administration stage in an intensive care unit

Objective: To assess the type, frequency and potential clinical significance of medication-administration errors. Design: Prospective study using the observation technique as described by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists but eliminating the disguised aspect. Setting: Medical intensive care unit (ICU) in a university hospital. Patients and participants: 2009 medication administration interventions by nurses. Interventions: Pharmacist-performed observation of preparation and administration of medication by nurses, comparison with the original medical order and comparison with the data available in the literature. Measurements and results: 132 (6.6 % of 2009 observed events) errors were detected. Their distribution is as follows: 41 dose errors, 29 wrong rate, 24 wrong preparation technique, 19 physicochemical incompatibility, 10 wrong administration technique and 9 wrong time errors. No fatal errors were observed, but 26 of 132 errors were potentially life-threatening and 55 potentially significant. Conclusion: According to this first observation-based study of medication administration errors in a European ICU, these errors were due to deficiencies in the overall organisation of the hospital medication track, in patient follow-up and in staff training. Received: 18 May 1998 Accepted: 4 December 1998     

Safety climate reduces medication and dislodgement errors in routine intensive care practice

Purpose

To assess the frequency and contributing factors of medication and dislodgement errors attributable to common routine processes in a cohort of intensive care units, with a special focus on the potential impact of safety climate.

Methods

A prospective, observational, 48 h cross sectional study in 57 intensive care units (ICUs) in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, with self-reporting of medical errors by ICU staff and concurrent assessment of safety climate, workload and level of care.

Results

For 795 observed patients, a total of 641 errors affecting 269 patients were reported. This corresponds to a rate of 49.8 errors per 100 patient days related to the administration of medication, loss of artificial airways, and unplanned dislodgement of lines, catheters and drains. In a multilevel model predicting error occurrence at the patient level, odds ratios (OR) per unit increase for the occurrence of at least one medical error were raised for a higher Nine Equivalents of Nursing Manpower Use Score (NEMS) (OR 1.04, 95 % CI 1.02–1.05, p < 0.01) and a higher number of tubes/lines/catheters/drains (OR 1.02, 95 % CI 1.01–1.03, p < 0.01) at the patient level and lowered by a better safety climate at the ICU level (OR per standard deviation 0.67, 95 % CI 0.51–0.89, p < 0.01).

Conclusions

Safety climate apparently contributes to a reduction of medical errors that represent a particularly error-prone aspect of frontline staff performance during typical routine processes in intensive care.     

Medication administration errors: understanding the issues.

OBJECTIVE: This paper surveys current literature related to medication administration errors, the role of nurses in such errors, and current initiatives that are underway within New Zealand to address this aspect of patient safety. SETTING: The literature review focused on research that primarily addresses the issues related to medications that arise in tertiary care facilities. PRIMARY ARGUMENT: Medication administration errors are reported to occur in one in five medication dosages. Such events have long been scrutinised, with the primary focus being the practice of nurses and their role in medication error. Analysis of such events frequently identifies the nurse as the deliverer of unsafe practice. However, over the past few years a shift in how medication errors are understood has led to the identification of systems-related issues that contribute to medication errors. CONCLUSION: Initiatives such as the 'Quality and Safe Use of Medicines' raise the opportunity to address some of the safety related issues with a view to enhancing patient safety. A call for nurses to pre-emptively drive and contribute to these initiatives, along with the development of nursing led research, is offered.     

我院护理给药差错管理办法的实施与效果

目的有效控制护理给药差错的漏报率，提高住院病人的安全。方法成立护理给药差错评定小组，强化护理人员的安全意识，扩充有效的给药差错报告渠道，细化奖惩细则及评价标准。结果实施护理给药差错管理办法后，给药差错漏报率有明显降低，差异具有统计学意义（P〈0．01）。结论合理的护理给药差错管理办法能激励当事人和科室管理者主动上报差错的发生情况，使护理给药差错管理纳人良性循环。     

Medication administration errors and the pediatric population: a systematic search of the literature

Medication administration errors are a serious concern for the pediatric population. This article presented an overview of medication errors and safe medication administration practices. Additional information was presented regarding the pediatric population and specific factors that make this population susceptible to medication errors. A systematic literature search on medication administration errors in the pediatric population was presented. From the search, five themes emerged, including the incidence rate of medication administration errors, specific medications involved in medication administration errors and classification of the errors, why medication administration errors occur, medication error reporting, and interventions to reduce medication errors.Differences in study design made it difficult to compare the articles with regard to some of the themes. However, it was apparent that medication administration errors do occur in the pediatric population, regardless of the exact incidence rate. As previously stated, the NCC MERP believes that there is no acceptable incidence rate for medication errors. Errors in dosage were found to be a common reason as to why medication errors occur. There was some discrepancy with regard to medication error reporting, as it was found that medication errors are underreported, but the extent of this varied. Systems used to report medication errors also varied. It was found that the more detailed the information reported on the medication error, the more potential impact it had on leading to a system change to prevent such errors from occurring again. It is recommended that reporting systems be nonpunitive so that nurses are not afraid to report errors. In addition, more emphasis should be placed on near miss medication errors, as these occur frequently but are rarely reported and may provide greater insight into system flaws. Lastly, interventions found to reduce medication administration errors were congruent with current recommendations for safe medication administration. This calls into question if the current recommendations are being followed uniformly. Implications for future research and practice include that a formalized system check for safe medication administration be developed and utilized. System checks have been developed and are widely used during the prescribing and preparing stage, and less medication errors are noted during this early part of the medication process. Having a formalized system check during medication administration would aid in ensuring that current recommendations are being followed, which would lead to a decrease in medication administration errors.Parents and caregivers naturally expect that their children will be safe when in the health care system. Yet, providing health care will always involve some degree of risk due to both the complexity of the health care environment and the role that human judgment plays within it. Nurses play a role in improving the safety of children within their care. The role of the nurse is much wider than simply reporting patient safety incidents or near misses; it includes taking preventative actions, sharing experiences, learning from mistakes, and helping to devise solutions.     

应用品管圈降低住院患者给药差错发生率的探索

目的:降低住院患者给药差错发生率,促进患者用药安全。方法 :按品管圈理论的步骤进行计划、实施、确认和处置,分析导致住院患者给药差错发生的真因,探讨解决对策并实施,进行效果评价。结果 :住院患者给药差错发生率由活动前的1.54‰降低至活动后的0.76‰,差异有统计学意义(P<0.01)。结论:品管圈活动可有效改进给药护理质量,降低给药差错发生率,从而保证患者用药安全和治疗效果。