title: Medication errors--a system problem.
abstract: With medication errors, a more productive approach is to look at what, rather than who, caused the error. Unclear orders, both written and verbal, need to be clarified: Never make assumptions about the drug, dose, route, or frequency. Nurses must be assertive and join forces with pharmacists, physicians, risk managers, and quality improvement professionals to make a difference in error prevention and medication safety.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Safe Medication Practice, Warminster, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: H G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008499:Medical Records / Q000592:standards; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010348:Patient Care Team; D012308:Risk Management / Q000379:methods*; D013597:Systems Analysis