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(HealthDay)—Among pediatric cancer patients who receive medications at home, errors are common, with a rate of 3.6 errors with injury per 100 patients, according to a study published online April 29 in Pediatrics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-med-errors-common-pediatric-cancer.html Pediatrics Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:03:46 EST news286459417 The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has released a new report, Making Health Care Safer II, which identifies the top 10, evidence-based patient safety strategies available to clinicians. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-patient-safety-strategies-ahrq.html Health Thu, 07 Mar 2013 11:47:48 EST news281879262 (Medical Xpress)—Addressing on the challenges that accompany transitions between health care settings could be a key strategy for improving clinical outcomes for people living with HIV, according to researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The team's plan, which calls for identifying potential challenges before they occur and preparing to address them, is detailed online in the journal AIDS. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-detours-road-hiv-treatment-success.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 07 Mar 2013 07:30:01 EST news281863122 (HealthDay)—In one case documented in a new study, an elderly patient was misdiagnosed with bronchitis but actually had full-blown pneumonia and ended up being admitted to the hospital. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-primary-doctors-wrong.html Health Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:20:01 EST news281037066 Health care practitioners now can access patients' data using electronic medical records, which often include information systems that assess individuals' medical histories and clinical research to facilitate doctors' diagnoses. A University of Missouri researcher says the increased use of computerized clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) leads to greater patient dissatisfaction and could increase noncompliance with preventative care and treatment recommendations. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-digital-diagnostic-tools-patient-dissatisfaction.html Health Thu, 24 Jan 2013 15:43:36 EST news278264602 Following a hospitalization, patients face many challenges as they transition home. A new study of this vulnerable period published by Yale School of Medicine researchers in JAMA found that a substantial number of patients return to the emergency department soon after leaving the hospital, and, while such patients are not usually readmitted, the study raises concerns that many more patients require acute medical care after hospital discharge than previously recognized. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-emergency-room-redux-patients-hospitalization.html Health Tue, 22 Jan 2013 16:00:12 EST news278091137 (Medical Xpress)—Serious errors administering drugs to children are occurring frequently due to workload, distraction and ineffective communication, according to a new study exploring the relationship between the nursing work environment and the administering of pediatric medication. The study showed negligence was rarely to blame in these incidents. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-medication-errors-child-fatalities.html Pediatrics Fri, 18 Jan 2013 06:48:14 EST news277714088 An interdisciplinary team with a broad range of expertise – in nursing, civil engineering, computer science, and biostatistics – is working together to confront a serious problem in modern health care: unsafe medication practices. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-unnecessary-deaths-meds-safely.html Medications Thu, 08 Nov 2012 07:27:12 EST news271582013 Research presented at IDWeek 2012 concludes that despite advances in electronic medical records, mistakes are still commonly made in the prescription of antiretroviral medications for hospitalized HIV-positive patients. At the same time, a trio of studies suggests however, that electronic records in combination with increased clinical education can help to greatly decrease medical errors. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-high-hiv-medication-errors-hospitalized.html HIV & AIDS Fri, 19 Oct 2012 12:29:55 EST news269868584 With medication misuse resulting in more than one million adverse drug events per year in the United States, new standards released today by the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) for the first time provide a universal approach to the format, appearance, content and language of instructions for medicines in containers dispensed by pharmacists. Wide variability in prescription container labels exists today across individual prescriptions, pharmacies, retail chains and states. The USP standards provide specific direction on how to organize labels in a "patient-centered" manner that best reflects how most patients seek out and understand medication instructions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-universal-standards-content-prescription.html Medications Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:30:19 EST news268997385 More children experience complications or unintended injuries, especially related to surgery, in academic hospitals compared with community hospitals, but adverse events in the former are less likely to be preventable, according to the Canadian Paediatric Adverse Events Study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-medical-complications-hospitalized-children-canadian.html Other Wed, 01 Aug 2012 12:01:20 EST news263041268 (Medical Xpress) -- Many patients seem to ignore prescription drug warning labels with instructions that are critical for safe and effective use, according to a study by a Kansas State University researcher working with scientists at Michigan State University. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-drug-overhaul-capture-attention-effectively.html Medications Thu, 05 Jul 2012 07:09:06 EST news260690926 (HealthDay) -- Half of patients hospitalized for a heart attack or heart failure will make a mistake with their medications within a month of checking out of the hospital, new research shows. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-heart-patients-meds.html Cardiology Tue, 03 Jul 2012 13:25:10 EST news260540703 (HealthDay) -- A pharmacist-delivered intervention does not significantly improve the rate of clinically important medication errors following discharge among hospitalized heart patients, according to a study published in the July 3 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-pharmacist-intervention-medication-errors.html Medications Tue, 03 Jul 2012 04:27:36 EST news260508429 Acetaminophen, a widely available over-the-counter medication, can cause liver toxicity in children if doses are exceeded, and more public education is needed to warn of potential adverse effects, states an article published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-acetaminophen-overdoses-children-life-threatening.html Medications Mon, 04 Jun 2012 12:00:02 EST news258026343 Researchers estimate nearly 800,000 preventable adverse drug events may occur in nursing homes each year. Many of these incidents could be prevented with safety practices such as medication reconciliation, a process in which health care professionals, such as physicians, pharmacists and nurses, review medication regimens to identify and resolve discrepancies when patients transfer between health care settings. In nursing homes, both registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs) often are responsible for this safety practice. A recent study by a University of Missouri gerontological nursing expert found, when observed, these nurses often differed in how they identified discrepancies. Recognizing the distinct differences between RNs and LPNs could lead to fewer medication errors and better patient care. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-collaboration-nursing-home-rns-lpns.html Health Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:38:01 EST news250951074 Medication errors are common in primary care but the number of mistakes could be reduced significantly if GPs introduced an in-house pharmacist-led intervention scheme. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-in-house-pharmacists-gps-errors-percent.html Medications Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:00:02 EST news248957279 A study published in this week's PLoS Medicine shows that commercial electronic prescribing systems (commonly known as e-prescribing, in which prescribers use a computer to order medications for their patients through a system with the help of prompts, aids, and alerts) could substantially reduce prescribing error rates in hospital in-patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-commercial-electronic-medication-errors-hospital.html Other Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:00:06 EST news247248831 Temporary staff members working in a hospital's fast-paced emergency department are twice as likely as permanent employees to be involved in medication errors that harm patients, new Johns Hopkins research suggests. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-temporary-er-staff-poses-safety.html Other Thu, 25 Aug 2011 14:48:22 EST news233502488 Fifteen-month-old Mendel Grossbaum squirmed in his mother's arms as Dr. Darren Saks examined his ears and throat, then concluded the checkup with a prescription for vitamins - without ever touching paper. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-doctors-e-prescriptions-soars.html Medications Sun, 10 Jul 2011 12:07:45 EST news229518450 Outpatient electronic prescribing systems don't cut out the common mistakes made in manual systems, suggests research published online in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-outpatient-electronic-dont-common.html Health Thu, 30 Jun 2011 04:39:00 EST news228627504 Patients who received poorly co-ordinated care or were unable to afford basic medical costs were much more likely to report medication, treatment or care errors, according to an international study published in the July issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-poorly-drug-medical-errors-countries.html Health Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:05:39 EST news227786617 Accurate, safe prescribing information for children is often unavailable to doctors in Canada because pharmaceutical companies will not disclose information to Health Canada, states an editorial in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-safe-children-canada-hard.html Medications Mon, 13 Jun 2011 13:00:02 EST news227188781