Did you know that some medications, such as unit-dose radiopharmaceuticals, are exempt from the FDA’s barcoding requirements, creating a potential gap in the tracking process and opening the door to patient dosing errors?
Cardinal Health offers the industry’s only complete radiopharmaceutical tracking system: from beginning to bedside. One integrated system. One important way to close the gap from radiopharmaceutical ordering to administration.
Preventable medication errors occur in 3.8 million inpatient visits and 3.3 million outpatient visits costing $20.6 billion annually.1,2
7,000 deaths occur each year from medication errors.8
The average cost per medication administration error (MAE) is $2,901.1,2,3,4,5
In radiology 38.5% of errors are due to:
Wrong drug 14.6%6
Wrong dosage 14.7%6
Wrong patient 9.2%7
Medication errors occurred most often at the stages of ordering (56%) and administration (34%).9
Medication errors in radiologic services are 7x more likely to cause harm.3
Barcoding and IT systems are being adopted to prevent medication errors and have the potential to save up to $88 billion over 10 years.4,5
- Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) and NEHI, 2008. Saving Lives, Saving Money: The Imperative for CPOE in Massachusetts. Updated to 2008 figures. Cambridge, MA: NEHI, 2008. Available at www.nehi.net/ publications/8/saving_lives_saving_money_the_imperative_for_computerized_physician_order_entry_in_massachusetts_hospitals. Last accessed November 2010.
- Center of Information Technology Leadership (CITL), The Value of Computerized Provider Order Entry in Ambulatory Settings. Updated to 2007 figures. Available at http://www.partners.org/cird/pdfs/CITL_ACPOE_Full.pdf. Last accessed November 2010.
- Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) and New England Healthcare Institute (NEHI).
- Center of Information Technology Leadership (CITL).
- Burton MM, Hope C, Murray MD, et al., The cost of adverse drug events in ambulatory care. AMIA Annu Symp Proc, 2007:90-93. Updated to 2007 figures
- Santell JP, Hicks RW, Cousins DD. MEDMARX® data report: a chartbook of 2000-2004 findings from intensive care units and radiologic services. Rockville (MD): USP Center for the Advancement of Patient Safety; 2006.
- Wolf ZR, Serembus JF, Smetzer J, et al. Responses and concerns of healthcare providers to medication errors. Clin Nurs Spec. 2000;14(6):278–89.
- Prevention of Medication Errors Information Statement. Retrieved May 11, 2015, from: http://www.aaos.org/about/papers/advistmt/1026.asp
- "Incidence of Adverse Drug Events and Potential Adverse Drug Events."Patient Safety Research. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://patientsafetyresearch.org/journal%20articles/Original%20021.pdf> mla format