5PSQ-117 Preventing medication errors regarding high-alert medication

Background High-alert medications are those that, when they are not being properly used, are more likely to cause serious or even fatal harm to patients. In order to improve patient safety, it is important to focus on them and to establish practices for improving safety in all processes of their use. Purpose To make action protocols to minimise possible errors arising from the use of high-alert medications and implementing them in a second-level hospital through the pharmacy service. Material and methods The high-alert medication list was obtained through the Institute for the Safe Use of Medicines. We analysed the drugs included in it and we selected those that were reasons for doubt and by those who called more frequently to the hospital pharmacy service to clarify doses, routes of administration and so on: in general, those that caused failures in the process of using them. We also tried to analyse the circumstances that could motivate these doubts or errors. These drugs were: oral anticoagulant, heparin, insulins, intravenous potassium chloride and oral methotrexate. Results Conclusion The implementation of specific practices, including packaging, labelling, storage, prescription and preparation, as well as the establishment of standardised protocols of action in the hospital will help to reduce the errors of medication. References and/or acknowledgements No conflict of interest.