The PSNet Collection: All Content

The AHRQ PSNet Collection comprises an extensive selection of resources relevant to the patient safety community. These resources come in a variety of formats, including literature, research, tools, and Web sites. Resources are identified using the National Library of Medicine’s Medline database, various news and content aggregators, and the expertise of the AHRQ PSNet editorial and technical teams.

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Displaying 1 - 20 of 150 Results

ISMP updates its list of drug names with tall man (mixed case) letters based on survey results.

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ISMP Medication Safety Alert! Acute care edition. January 26, 2023:28(2):1-4.

Look-alike and sound-alike drug names are a perpetual cause for confusion that decreases medication safety. This article discusses the results of a national survey on the importance of mixed case drug names, which found that 94% of the 298 respondents reported using mixed case drug names in their organization and that the majority of participants felt that mixed case lettering prevents drug selection events. The survey also identified new drug names for inclusion on the 2023 list revision.

Latent and active failures perfectly align to allow a preventable adverse event to reach a patient.

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ISMP Medication Safety Alert! Acute care edition. January 12, 2023;28(1):1-4.

The patient safety movement has raised awareness of the presence of multiple factors that align to result in patient harm, yet implementing processes to fully examine and change practice from that perspective is challenged. This article discusses this situation and provides recommendations to orient improvement efforts toward deeper investigation methods to identify latent contributors to care failure.

FDA and ISMP Lists of Look-Alike Drug Names With Recommended Tall Man Letters.

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Food and Drug Administration and Institute for Safe Medication Practices. Plymouth Meeting, PA; Institute for Safe Medication Practices; January 2023.

Mistakes associated with look-alike medication names are a safety concern in health care. Tall man, or mixed case, lettering is one recommended strategy to reduce confusion associated with similarities in drug names. This list includes medications recognized by clinicians and professional organizations as those suited for the application of mixed case lettering to make their use safer.

National Patient Safety Goals.

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The Joint Commission.

The National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) are one of the major methods by which The Joint Commission establishes standards for ensuring patient safety in all health care settings. In order to ensure health care facilities focus on preventing major sources of patient harm, The Joint Commission regularly revises the NPSGs based on their impact, cost, and effectiveness. Major focus areas include promoting surgical safety and preventing hospital-acquired infections, medication errors, inpatient suicide, and specific clinical harms such as falls and pressure ulcers. The 2023 goals, which include a goal to improve health equity, are now available.

Prevent administration of ear drops into the eyes.

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ISMP Medication Safety Alert!: Acute Care Edition. December 1, 2022;27(24):1-3.

Look-alike medications are vulnerable to wrong route and other use errors. This article examines the potential for mistaken application of ear drops into eyes. Strategies highlighted to reduce this error focus on storage, dispensing, administration, and patient education.

Prevalence, causes and severity of medication administration errors in the neonatal intensive care unit: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

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Henry Basil J, Premakumar CM, Mhd Ali A, et al. Drug Saf. 2022;45:1457-1476.

Medication administration errors (MAEs) are thought to be common in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). This systematic review estimated that the pooled prevalence of MAEs among patients in NICU settings ranged from 59% to 65%. The review highlights both active failures (e.g., similar drug packaging or names) and latent failures (e.g., noisy environments, inaccurate verbal or written orders) contributing to MAEs.

ISMP survey on tall man (mixed case) lettering to reduce drug name confusion.

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Institute for Safe Medication Practices.

Mixed case letters are one suggested strategy to reduce look-alike medication name errors. This survey announcement calls for insight from the field to update an existing resource of problematic drug name pairs and examine the effectiveness of mixed case letter use to minimize confusion. The comment submission period is now closed.

Improving safety in the operating room: medication icon labels increase visibility and discrimination.

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Lusk C, Catchpole K, Neyens DM, et al. Appl Ergon. 2022;104:103831.

Tall Man lettering and color-coding of medication syringes provide visual cues to decrease medication ordering and administration errors. In this study, an icon was added to the standard medication label; participants were asked to identify four medications, with and without the icon, from pre-defined distances. Participants correctly identified the medications with icons slightly more often.

Fatal Solutions: How a Healthcare System Used Tragedy to Transform Itself and Redefine Just Culture.

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Davies JM, Steinke C, Flemons WW. New York, NY: Productivity Press; 2022. ISBN: 9781032028132.

Look-alike packaging can contribute to patient harm. This book examines how a mix up involving potassium chloride resulted in the deaths of two patients. The Canadian organization involved applied Reason’s strategies to work past blame to examine the events and consider how just culture can be entrenched organization-wide to improve safety for patients, families, and those who care for them.

New Covid boosters look a lot like the old ones. Doctors worry that could lead to errors.

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Lovelace Jr, B. NBC News. September 7, 2022.

Look-alike sound-alike packaging is a known risk factor in medication errors. This news story discusses how a questionable design decision to use similar cap colors for the latest COVID boosters creates potential for administration errors.

Adopt strategies to manage look-alike and/or sound-alike medication name mix-ups.

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ISMP Medication Safety Alert! Acute care edition. June 2, 2022;27(11):1-4.

Minimizing look-alike/sound-alike medication risk is a universal need across health care. This story highlights a primary prevention tool that lists problematic drug names. It shares strategies across the medication use process to reduce errors associated with similarly named and labeled medications such as separate storage areas and tall man lettering.

Safety Considerations for Container Labels and Carton Labeling Design to Minimize Medication Errors: Guidance for Industry.

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Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research; May 18, 2022.

This guidance outlines design elements that reduce errors associated with medication labels. Improvements suggested include tall-man lettering use, look-alike / sound alike avoidance and abbreviation minimization.

Start the year off right by addressing these top 10 medication safety concerns from 2021.

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ISMP Medication Safety Alert! Acute care edition. January 27, 2022;27(2):1-6.

Medication errors are a consistent threat to safe patient care. This newsletter article analyzes events submitted to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices in 2021 and highlights those that are COVID-related or common, yet preventable, if practice recommendations and system improvements are applied.

Curated Libraries

Medication/Drug Errors

January 14, 2022

The medication-use process is highly complex with many steps and risk points for error, and those errors are a key target for improving safety. This Library reflects a curated selection of PSNet content focused on medication and drug errors. Included resources explore understanding harms from preventable medication use, medication safety...

Adverse glycemic events and critical emergencies.

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ISMP Medication Safety Alert! Acute care edition. December 2, 2021;(24)1-4.

Insulin is a high-alert medication that requires extra attention to safely manage blood sugar levels in chronic or acutely ill patients. This alert highlights look-alike/sound-alike packaging, delayed medication reconciliation, and dietary monitoring gaps as threats to safe insulin administration in emergencies. Recommendations for improvement are provided for both general in-hospital, and post-discharge care.

Updated guidance needed for longstanding large volume parenteral (LVP) labeling and packaging problems.

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ISMP Medication Safety Alert! Acute care edition. February 11, 2021;26(3):1-4.

Packaging and labeling problems hinder safe medication use. This article discusses label appearance and information design as distinct factors that affect the safe use of premixed large volume intravenous solutions.

Identification and safe storage of look-alike, sound-alike medicines in automated dispensing cabinets.

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Ruutiainen HK, Kallio MM, Kuitunen SK. Eur J Hosp Pharm. 2021;28:e151-e156.

Automated drug dispensing systems can reduce medication dispensing and administration errors. However, this study found that medication automated dispensing cabinets ADCs)in one hospital frequently contained look-alike, sound-alike (LASA) medications, which may increase the risk for medication error.

Best Practices in Developing Proprietary Names for Human Nonprescription Drug Products.

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Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research; December 7, 2020.

Nonprescription drugs are commonly associated with medication errors. This draft guidance seeks to provide a structure for industry to reduce instances of drug name confusion in nonprescription formulas of prescription medications. It describes the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) vetting process for drug names to improve naming actions prior to submission to the agency. The timeline for submitting comments is early February 2021.

Best Practices in Developing Proprietary Names for Human Prescription Drug Products Guidance for Industry.

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Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research; December 2020.

Look-alike and sound-alike names weaken the safety of medication use. This guidance provides a structure for industry to reduce instances of drug name similarities and describes the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) vetting process for drug names to improve naming actions prior to submission to the agency.

Learning from influenza vaccine errors to prepare for COVID-19 vaccination campaigns.

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ISMP Medication Safety Alert! Acute care edition. November 19, 2020;25(23):1-6.

Safety professionals encourage learning from errors to enhance the safe use of new processes and products. This article reviews vaccine error experiences and provides insight for the implementation of the COVID vaccine to help practitioners plan and activate safe vaccination processes.

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