WP: Insulin Among Several Drugs on Error List

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Insulin Among Several Drugs on Error List

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY
The Associated Press
Tuesday, December 9, 2003; 10:53 AM


NEW ORLEANS - Despite years of warnings, the same drugs continue to top medication error lists, a nonprofit group says.

Insulin, morphine, two blood thinners and potassium chloride - all of them "high-alert medications" - made up five of the top six drugs involved in errors reported last year to United States Pharmacopeia. Those five drugs are among those most likely to cause harm when used incorrectly. Doctors, nurses and pharmacists know this.

The five drugs all are potent medicines for common problems - but ones for which the "window of safety" is small, said Dr. Michael D. Fetters of the University of Michigan, who was not involved in the study.

Anyone who might be involved with any of the drugs - including patients and their families as well as nurses, pharmacists and medical assistants - should be "empowered to stop the process and ask questions," he said. "These are the big picture answers, and they're the hardest."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49185-2003Dec9.html