Medication Errors in Intravenous Drug Preparation and Administration: A Brief Review

Medication errors in intravenous drug administration can be defined as any mistakes in the preparation, dispensing and administration of these drugs. Medication errors can be classified based on the stage of intravenous therapy in which the error occurs (pre-preparation phase, preparation of medication by nurse, drug labelling, and drug administration). In intravenously administered medications, errors may have particularly serious consequences. Medication errors are more likely to be recorded during the morning hours. Inappropriate speed of administration was found to be the most common type of error in intravenously administered drugs, with slow bolus injection being the route of administration associated with the most risk. Greater safety of the medication process can be achieved by eliminating risk factors and by using different strategies to detect errors. In addition to eliminating the most dangerous human risk factors (work overload of nurses, their fatigue, and general lack of personnel), the use of various supportive technologies, such as computerized prescription of drugs, barcode scanning, and the use of electronic infusion pumps, effectively decreases the risk of medication errors.