Errors in the administration and use of medications

Abstract

This is a valuable topic that has deserved extensive debate, in order to provide patient safety, a fundamental reason for medical work.1–4 Medical interventions that should benefit patients sometimes cause harm. Errors in medical care can occur in various settings: hospitals, medical offices, nursing homes, pharmacies and patients’ homes or homes, at any point in the treatment process, call it wrong medication, inappropriate treatment, or delay in exams laboratory.5 The error in the administration of medicines is defined as any foreseeable event that can be caused by the inconvenient use or lack of medication that may cause harm to the patient, with the medication being under the control of health professionals, patients or consumers). We must consider errors in prescription, administration or lack of compliance. A recent classification of medication errors divides them into lapses, lapses, and mistakes or violations.6 In retrospect we become aware of errors, but when we make them we are not aware that we are producing them.