Medication Errors

Medication errors involve the negligent prescribing, dispensing, or administration of pharmaceuticals to patients. The category covers a wide range of failures, including selection of the wrong drug for the patient’s condition, prescribing at the wrong dose, failing to recognize contraindications or drug interactions, failing to monitor for adverse effects, errors in compounding or dispensing at the pharmacy level, errors in administration by nursing staff at the bedside, and failures of communication between providers about ongoing medications.

The standard of care varies with the role of the practitioner. A prescribing physician’s standard is what a reasonable physician in the same circumstances would have prescribed, considering the diagnosis, the patient’s history and comorbidities, and the available alternatives. A pharmacist’s standard includes an independent obligation to check for interactions, contraindications, and dosing errors and to question a prescription that appears inappropriate. A nurse’s standard includes the obligation to verify the right medication, the right dose, the right patient, the right route, and the right time.

Medication errors involving opioids, anticoagulants, insulin, and chemotherapy agents are particularly high-stakes, both because the drugs are inherently dangerous and because errors with them are more likely to cause severe or fatal harm.

Posts tagged Medication Errors analyze Ontario decisions involving negligent prescribing, dispensing, or administration of medications, across multiple specialties and clinical settings.