1. According to a document published online by the injury board.com, medication errors committed by doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals include prescribing the wrong type of drug, ordering an improper dose, giving a patient a drug that he or she is allergic to, or combining medications that are incompatible. Statistics suggest that the average medical doctor commits four prescription drug-related errors for every 1,000 prescriptions written. Some typical medication mistakes include failing to adjust dosages due to a decline in the patient's kidney or liver function, failing to inquire about the patient's history of drug allergies, transcribing the wrong drug name on the prescription pad, and calculating the wrong dose for the patient's physical and medical condition (2008).
According to a study conducted at the Fairview Southdale Hospital by Janell Stroshane, Kay Graf, and Steven Meisel titled An Interdisciplinary Model for Reducing Intravenous Heparin Errors, intravenous heparin is an important drug for the treatment of a variety of thromboembolic conditions. Intravenous heparin is a complicated drug to administer, typically requiring the use of an intravenous pump, frequent laboratory tests, and frequent dose adjustments. Weight-based dosing protocols have been advocated as a means to apply evidence-based dosing guidelines that also simplify procedures for the medical and nursing staff. Despite these protocols, intravenous heparin administration is a complex process that requires a series of steps involving multiple clinicians, including the physician, nurse, pharmacist, and clinical laboratory.
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices has identified heparin as one of the drugs most commonly associated with serious medication errors. This is because the medication process involving heparin is complex, with many interacting components. In a hospital setting, different disciplines are responsi...