A review by the agency of the Amer...

A review by the agency of the American Heart Association ground that medication errors are used by all in patients with cardiovascular disease and contribute substantially to adverse ends in hospital and outpatient settings. The concluded statement, "Medication Errors in Acute Cardiac Care," appeared in the November 12 2002 issue of Circulation.

Estimates based onward death certificate data show that between 1983 and 1993 there was a 26-fold increase in deaths from medication errors. In addition, outpatient deaths from medication errors rose 85-fold during the same period.

single in kind problem that applies primarily to patients with cardiovascular disease is put drugs into name confusion on either handwritten or verbal orders. Prescribing and dispensing errors also are culprits. Fibrinolytic and antithrombotic therapy, used in the treatment of myocardial infarction and acute coronary syndrome are targeted areas of relate to because any deviation in dosage could adversely influence clinical issue Complex dosing and titration regimens for these mix with drugss increase the risk of serious errors.

[i]clavis[/i] recommendations to improve patient result by minimizing medical errors include establishing a Center for Patient Safety, which would wager national goals for patient safety; developing a nationwide mandatory reporting rule to collect state-level information onward adverse events that result in serious harm or death; and establishing performance standards for health care organizations that focus greater attention upon patient safety. Electronic medication order-entry orders may help reduce prescribing errors. n

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