Drugs used to treat cardiovascular conditions represent the highest risk of medication error across drug classes, according to a recent study published in the journal Applied Nursing Research.
For the study, researchers analyzed documentation of 1,276 medication errors involving registered nurses reported from November 2011 through July 2014 at five hospitals in the southwestern United States. Researchers found cardiovascular drugs were associated with 24.7 percent of all medication errors, followed by antibiotics at 19.1 percent, electrolytes at 11.3 percent, endocrine drugs at 8.8 percent and analgesics also at 8.8 percent.
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"MEs (medication errors) occurred more frequently in the medical-surgical and intensive care units than any other hospital units," wrote the study's authors. "Ten percent of MEs reached the patients with harm and 11 percent reached the patients with increased monitoring. Understanding the contributing factors related to MEs, addressing and eliminating risk of errors across hospital units, and providing education and resources for nurses may help reduce MEs."
Approximately 1.5 million preventable adverse drug events occur annually in the U.S., according to data from the Institute of Medicine cited by the study's authors.
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