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.