Medication errors associated with intravenous smart pumps are a safety concern. Because errors are not always reported, the magnitude of this problem has been unknown. In this study, direct observation of nurses using smart pumps revealed that 60% of medication infusions involved one or more errors, but actual harm to patients was rare. The most common errors involved incorrect infusion rates and workarounds like bypassing the smart pump. These results accentuate a need for improvements in smart pump design to enhance safety and usability. A previous WebM&M commentary describes consequences of an incorrect medication infusion.

This article summarizes results from a conference regarding heparin errors, their epidemiology, and error types along with ways to increase safety.

This article describes factors contributing to errors in enteral nutrition delivery and offers strategies to prevent medical tubing misconnections.

An alert system triggered by 37 drug-specific adverse events was programmed into a 650-bed hospital information system. The investigators found that 53% of the alerts were valid ("true positives") and that 44% of these had been unrecognized by the prescribing physicians prior to notification. The authors conclude that computer alert systems can help prevent a wide range of adverse drug events. This study was one of the first to support the use of trigger systems to recognize and help prevent medication errors.