title: Medication Errors in Cardiopulmonary Arrest and Code-Related Situations.
abstract: PubMed/MEDLINE (1966-November 2014) was searched to identify relevant published studies on the overall frequency, types, and examples of medication errors during medical emergencies involving cardiopulmonary resuscitation and related situations, and the breakdown by type of error. The overall frequency of medication errors during medical emergencies, specifically situations related to resuscitation, is highly variable. Medication errors during such emergencies, particularly cardiopulmonary resuscitation and surrounding events, are not well characterized in the literature but may be more frequent than previously thought. Depending on whether research methods included database mining, simulation, or prospective observation of clinical practice, reported occurrence of medication errors during cardiopulmonary resuscitation and surrounding events has ranged from less than 1% to 50%. Because of the chaos of the resuscitation environment, errors in prescribing, dosing, preparing, labeling, and administering drugs are prone to occur. System-based strategies, such as infusion pump policies and code cart management, as well as personal strategies exist to minimize medication errors during emergency situations.
authors.affiliation: Alexander H. Flannery is a critical care pharmacist, medical intensive care unit/pulmonary, University of Kentucky HealthCare, and an adjunct assistant professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy, Lexington, Kentucky. Sara E. Parli is a critical care pharmacist, trauma/acute care surgery, University of Kentucky HealthCare, and an adjunct assistant professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy. alex.flannery@uky.edu.
authors.forename: Alexander H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Flannery
authors.affiliation: Alexander H. Flannery is a critical care pharmacist, medical intensive care unit/pulmonary, University of Kentucky HealthCare, and an adjunct assistant professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy, Lexington, Kentucky. Sara E. Parli is a critical care pharmacist, trauma/acute care surgery, University of Kentucky HealthCare, and an adjunct assistant professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy.
authors.forename: Sara E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Parli
mesh_terms: D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; D004339:Drug Compounding; D004348:Drug Labeling; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D004630:Emergencies; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*