Medication reconciliation data collected by the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority between November 2011 and November 2012 shows a three percent rate of patient harm among patients who were exposed to a medication reconciliation error.
The PPSA identified approximately 500 instances of medication reconciliation errors in the one-year time period. Of the 501 events, 337 resulted in an event that affected the patient. Only 18 patients, or three percent, were actually harmed as a result of the event.
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The most common error was a missing drug or dose (27 percent), and errors occurred most often during the prescription phase of the reconciliation process (40 percent), according to a news release.
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