Clinical decision support systems can alert prescribers to potential interactions between the drug being ordered and other drugs or drug allergies. Earlier studies have shown high rates of overrides of drug allergy alerts. This study analyzed allergic adverse drug events that occurred because of overridden drug allergy alerts (ODAA). Less than 10% of ODAA were inappropriate and resulted in only mild adverse events.

Inadequate or incorrect documentation of patient allergies can lead to patient harm. This commentary discusses factors contributing to penicillin allergy documentation errors within electronic heath record systems (EHRs) and how EHR alerts can be used to improve safety around penicillin allergies.

Prior research has found that electronic health record (EHR) implementation has introduced risks to patient safety. Using data from one hospital’s EHR system, this study reviewed active allergy alerts in patient records and concluded that 37% of those records required reconciliation of allergy information across different areas of the EHR. These findings highlight the need for automated reconciliation algorithms and clinical decision support tools to help clinicians identify potential allergy discrepancies and avoid patient safety risks.

Patient exposure to allergens healthcare settings, such as latex or certain medications, can lead to adverse outcomes. Based on data from an incident reporting system, researchers in this study developed a system for classifying allergy-related safety events. Classification categories include: (1) incomplete or inaccurate EHR documentation, (2) human factors, such as overridden allergy alerts, (3) alert limitation or malfunction, (4) data exchange and interoperability failures, and (5) issues with EHR system default options. This classification system can be used to support improvements at the individual, team, and systems levels. 

This article discusses the challenges COVID-19 poses for shared decision making (such as physical distancing and health service reallocation, communicating uncertainty, delivering allergy/immunology care) and opportunities to evolve incorporation of shared decision making into clinical practice during and after the pandemic.

This simulation study involved 28 hospitals in 6 countries to characterize medication errors involving epinephrine administration for pediatric anaphylaxis. The study found that medication administration errors were common and identified latent safety threats (including related to the use of cognitive aids) at several institutions.

Medication errors were common in the emergency department management of anaphylaxis (severe, life-threatening allergic reactions), and error rates improved only modestly after implementation of a standardized order set.

This study found that omission and administration errors were the most common types of medication errors in a pediatric oncology population.

This study analyzed more than 600 pediatric vaccination error reports from MEDMARX and used a framework to illustrate opportunities for prevention.

This study developed a simulation model in the radiology environment and identified the need for greater resuscitation aids to treat unexpected clinical events. A past AHRQ WebM&M commentary discussed the role of simulation as a method to practice both behavioral and technical skills.

The author describes a case of vaccine misadministration, discusses factors contributing to the error, and recommends how to prevent similar errors.