Medication errors are unintended mistakes in the prescribing, dispensing and/or administration of a medicinal product while in the control of a healthcare professional or the patient/caregiver.
These errors are responsible for a high proportion of the adverse events associated with healthcare. Moreover, they may cause transient or permanent damage to the patient, potentially leading to longer hospital stays, readmissions or visits to the emergency room.
However, although it is true that medication errors are responsible for the majority of adverse events, they are certainly not the only healthcare-related errors that may result in damage to the patient. This means that clinical safety should be understood as a much broader concept, encompassing the entirety of processes capable of negatively affecting patients and their caregivers at any stage along the healthcare process. sanitaria.
Because of their training, the clinical activities of hospital pharmacists are very closely linked to the safe use of medications. However, given the broad insight our work gives us into different healthcare processes, we can participate, and sometimes lead, a vast number of activities where patient safety may be at risk.