Reduction of harm from high risk medications

High risk medicationsHigh risk medications are medicines that are most likely to cause significant harm to the patient, even when used as intended. The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) reports that the incident rates of this group of medicines may not necessarily be higher than the other medicines but when incidents occur the impact on the patients would be serious (significant).In seeking to improve patient safety, the primary focus should be on preventing errors with the greatest potential for harm. Many of the highest risk medications – e.g., heparin, insulin, morphine, and propofol – are delivered by IV infusion. 61% of the most serious and life threatening potential adverse drug events (ADEs) are IV drug related.IV administration often results in the most serious outcomes of medication errors.