**2. Summary of key points**

and "An Organization with a Memory" [2], which set a new milestone in patient safety. The administration of medicines constitutes a complex technique, which requires the participation of various healthcare professionals and takes place in a complex environment [3]. Nurses constitute a group of healthcare professionals who fill most of the prescriptions and spend 40% of their time in the hospital in order to administer pharmaceutical preparations to the patients [4]. Therefore, medication errors in nursing occur more frequently and have an impact not only on patient's health and safety but also on the healthcare system since prolonged hospitalization of

For half a century, nurses learn the basic principles of the medication administration phase which are included in the following tenet: "appropriate patient, appropriate medicine, appropriate dosage, appropriate routes of administration, appropriate time." The implementation of the

In 1981, Steel et al. discovered that more than half of the iatrogenic damages were associated with medication use. These consequences may vary from smaller or imperceptible to very

The majority of studies regarding medication errors refer to hospital patients due to the fact that it is easier to perceive and register errors in hospitals than in the case of medication to be administered at home. It has been found that medication errors are mainly related to prescription, preparation, administration, and patient monitoring processes. Nurses' involvement in processes (prescription, preparation, and medicine administration as well as patient monitoring) other than prescription is instrumental, since the aforementioned processes constitute

The incidence of medication errors is just as high in developing countries as in the developed ones [10, 11]. Approximately 5% of the adverse drug events (ADEs) that could be ascribed to nurses administering medications to patients are likely to put patients' safety at risk [12]. Moreover, researches have shown that 1/3 of medication side effects (MSEs) result from medication errors [13]. The incidence of medication errors is higher in children than in adults, since dosages for children are estimated separately for each child depending on their age, weight, body surface, and clinical conditions. Additionally, the majority of medications for children

According to the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA), medication errors in the United Kingdom (UK) occur at all phases of the medication therapy: 16% in prescription, 18% in distribution, and 50% in medication administration. The equivalent rates in pediatrics range between 3–37% in prescription, 5–58% in distribution, 72–75% in administration, and 17–21% refer to clinical documentation errors. In a period of 8 years, 29 children have lost their lives due to medication errors in the UK [17]. Moreover, medication errors cause 1 of 131 outpatients and 1 of 854 inpatient deaths [1], and inpatient medication error rates are between 4.8% [18] and 5.3% [19]. It should be underlined that injury from medication errors is modest (0.9% of medication errors) [19]. Furthermore, the medications most usually involved with errors categorize insulin, opioid-containing analgesic,

It is estimated that medication errors cost the US healthcare system \$77 million each year [21]. According to an older study, medication errors extend the hospitalization for an average of

anticoagulant, amoxicillin-containing agent, and antihistamine/cold remedy [20].

4.6 days [22] and increase the cost at about \$2000–2500 per patient [23].

patients generates additional costs, as a whole, for the healthcare system [5, 6].

above tenet comprises an indicator of quality nursing care [7].

nursing actions performed on a daily basis [9].

are unlicensed and off-label [14–16].

serious and lethal [8].

78 Vignettes in Patient Safety - Volume 4

**Table 1** presents the most important points of the chapter concerning the medication errors.


**Table 1.** Medication errors: summary of key points.
