Lethal administration errors in hospitals

Researchers from the UK and Finland have recently collaborated to examine medication administration error with a lethal outcome occurring in the acute care setting in England and Wales over a 10 year period. It appears that the drugs we worry about the most are the drugs have have good reason to worry about.  There were 229 incidents reported as resulting in death, and upon analysis it was found that these most often occurred in patients aged over 75 years (41.5%,n = 95), and most commonly involving omitted medicine or ingredient (31.4%, n = 72). The most prominently represented groups were cardiovascular drugs (20.1%, n = 46) and nervous system agents (10.0%, n = 23). Errors involving parenteral anticoagulants alone accounted for 26 cases, and other agents observed to be associated with multiple cases included analgesics (10) insulin (7), cytotoxics (8) and antibiotics (20). The “APINCH” drugs continue to be implicated in fatal medication administration errors. Read more here