Study examines medication order errors

Incorrect dose and drug orders led the harmful types of reported medication and ordering errors, according to a retrospective study. Published in January in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, the study focused on ordering errors reported from 2010 to 2020 to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality network of patient safety databases. The study found nearly 80% of errors were definitely or likely preventable. Future studies should develop and test interventions focused on computerized order entry to prevent medication ordering errors, with an emphasis on wrong-dose and wrong-drug errors, according to the authors. (Patient Safety Network article, 2/22/23)