Hospitals To Tackle High-risk Drugs To Reduce Errors

Hospitals are taking steps to prevent errors in the use of so-called high-alert medications -- those that, when given in the wrong dose or used incorrectly, have the highest risk of seriously harming or even killing a patient. Many of the high-alert medications are the most essential to hospitals. Among them are drugs to prevent blood clots, sedate patients, relieve pain and stabilize diabetics. But incorrect use of these drugs can lead to disasters, such as the accidental overdoses of heparin, an anticlotting drug, that killed three infants at an Indiana hospital in 2006 and threatened the newborn twins of actor Dennis Quaid this past November. 

While there are 19 categories of high-alert medications, according to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, studies show that about eight medications, including heparin, account for 31% of all medication errors that harm patients.

Laura Landro, Wall Street Journal, 3-5-08
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120467987732012017.html