While there is an intensifying focus on safe pain management in the acute care setting, many hospitals continue to experience adverse events related to unintentional overdoses among patients, according to a report from the ECRI Institute Patient Safety Organization.
To conduct a detailed analysis of opioid-related adverse events in acute care settings, researchers analyzed 7,218 patient safety events involving opioids voluntarily reported to the ECRI PSO database between Jan. 1, 2014, and Nov. 30, 2016. Among the events, 35 percent involved a drug administration error, 28 percent involved drug diversion, 16 percent involved an adverse drug reaction, 14 percent involved a prescribing error, 8 percent involved a dispensing error, 2 percent involved a transcribing error and another 2 percent involved a monitoring error.
"It's a deep concern that we continue to see so many opioid-related events, including patient deaths, reported into our PSO database," said Bill Marella, executive director of PSO operations and analytics with the ECRI Institute. "While opioids play a useful role in treating pain, the risks that come with them require that safeguards be put in place to stop misuse or overuse."
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