Medication errors can occur in a number of ways. Physicians can recommend an inappropriate drug given a patient’s personal or family history. Pharmacists and the technicians assisting them can make mistakes when compounding medication or dispensing drugs. Nurses and other health care professionals can commit oversights when directly administering medications.
Patients themselves can make mistakes regarding when and how they take their medication. Some people perceive intravenous (IV) medication as a means of avoiding most of those risks. Patient error becomes a non-issue, as medical professionals oversee the entire administration process. A machine handles most of the work.
Despite what patients might expect, IV drug administration errors are relatively common. The three types of mistakes below are among the most frequent, and all of them can have concerning implications for patients.
1. Dispensing the wrong drugs
There are several ways in which a patient receiving IV drug treatment might receive the wrong medication. Sometimes, the professionals working in a pharmacy mislabel medications or make mistakes when compounding IV suspensions.
Other times, the healthcare professional setting up the medication could mistakenly attach the wrong bag to the IV stands. Patients who receive the wrong drug could have an adverse reaction to that medication. They could also suffer from decreased efficacy of treatment due to interruptions in drug administration.
2. Timing errors
According to research into IV drug mistakes, timing errors are the most common type of error. The professional setting up the IV machine may input codes that result in rapid drug delivery.
They may also fail to switch out bags of IV solutions when the first treatment is complete. Those timing errors can result in overdoses or may reduce the efficacy of treatment.
3. Input mistakes
IV machines control the administration of the medication at a specific rate. If the healthcare professional administering the IV drug inputs the wrong information regarding the dosage or the drug, the IV machine may administer the drugs improperly.
It only takes a few seconds or a slip of the finger when typing in a number to drastically alter the administration of an IV drug. Errors when administering IV drugs in a medical setting can have catastrophic consequences for patients.
Pursuing a medication error malpractice lawsuit can help people recover their losses after a major medical mistake. Both injured patients and grieving families may have grounds for litigation when a medication error leads to a negative medical outcome.
