Minimising drug errors in critically ill patients

Excerpt

Klopotowska and colleagues underscore the value of the hospital pharmacists' expertise in reducing medication errors and improving patient safety in critical care [1]. The authors emphasise that drug inaccuracies are frequent and that the limited physiological reserve of critically ill individuals increases the potential harm of adverse prescribing. Critically ill patients represent a unique population with altered pharmacokinetics, and it is likely that the rate of suboptimal prescribing may be even greater than suggested by the current study [2, 3]. Notably, Klopotowska and colleagues identified that most errors were focused on drug monitoring and suboptimal and incorrect dosing; typically involving antibiotics, drugs used less frequently in critical care and drugs with rapid-change profiles such as anti-thrombotics. …