Hello . . . I am interested in opinions as to what professional habits may make a practitioner less likely to make a medication error in his or her professional practice. While understanding that most errors are ultimately system related, I would like to know if there are opinions as to what professional habits could add to system reliability to prevent errors. Some examples may be:
1. Contacting a prescriber directly each time an unusual medication order is written
2. Inviting a double check from a peer for complex situations
3. Recognizing specific safety behaviors (hand hygiene, read/repeat backs, two patient ids, etc) each time they occur
4. Taking a pause when performing a routine task such as med removal from an ADC
Please feel free to email me at ddegnan@purdue.edu or post any thoughts here.
Thanks - Dan