ISMP Website for Consumer Medication Safety

A recent email with the November issue of NurseAdvice-Err, an ISMP (Institute for Safe Mediation Practice) publication, had great information.  Many of the preventable hospital readmissions relate to health literacy and medication errors caused by patients who don't understand enough about what, how, and when to take medications.  Of course, it is more complicated than that.  The health literacy issue also relates to drug and food interactions.

The ISMP has developed a website, ConsumerMedSafety, at http://www.consumermedsafety.org/ to assist consumers to stay safe when taking medications.

There is consumer information on eleven high-alert medications at http://www.consumermedsafety.org/tools-and-resources/medication-safety-tools-and-resources

The medications are:

High-Alert Medications

• Warfarin (Coumadin)
• Lovenox (enoxaparin)
• Methotrexate (Rheumatrex, Trexal)
• Fentanyl Patch (Duragesic)
• Hydrocodone with Acetaminophen (Vicoden, Lorcet)

• Oxycodone with Acetaminophen (Percocet, Roxicet)
• Apidra (insulin glulisine)
• Humalog (insulin lispro)
• Lantus (insulin glargine)
• Levemir (insulin detemir)
• NovoLog (insulin aspart)

ISMP - Med Error Newsletter (NurseAdviseERR)

The latest edition of the ISMP-Med Error Newsletter is available at http://www.ismp.org/newsletters/nursing/issues/NurseAdviseERR201204.pdf  It reveals some chilling errors regarding IV insulin administration, IV Propafol, and more. The newsletter is always informative and heightens my awareness of ways to avoid medication errors. The information is especially pertinent to learning content in the legal and ethical classes I teach.  

NurseAdviseERR - March Edition

The Institute of Safe Medicine Practices (ISMP) publishes a fantastic newsletter, NurseAdviseERR every month.  The March newsletter (need Adobe Reader)focuses on several topics. I have copied/pasted the bullet points highlighting the features of the issue below. 

• Smart pump custom concentrations without hard "low concentration" alerts - A perfect storm for patient harm
• What's wrong with "ketofol"? In a word, plenty!
• All is not as it seems... Caution: drug names that end with the letter "L."
• OR nurses: "Stop using multidose vials."
• Medical equipment, not a toy.
• New Resource: Tubing Misconnections Self Assessment for Healthcare Facilities (www.ismp.org/selfassessments/tubingMisconnections)

For previous issues of the newsletter, go to http://www.ismp.org/Newsletters/nursing/archive.asp

To sign up to receive email alerts of new issues, go to http://www.ismp.org/Newsletters/nursing/default.asp