Wrong-patient orders in obstetrics.
Kern-Goldberger AR, Kneifati-Hayek J, Fernandes Y, et al. Wrong-patient orders in obstetrics. Obstet Gynecol. 2021;138(2):229-235. doi:10.1097/aog.0000000000004474.
Patient misidentification errors can result in serious patient harm. The authors reviewed over 1.3 million electronic orders for inpatients at one New York hospital between 2016 and 2018 and found that wrong-patient order errors occurred more frequently on obstetric units than medical-surgical units. Medication errors were the largest source of order errors and commonly involved antibiotics and opioid and non-opioid analgesics.