Errors in prescribing, dispensing, or administering medication with the result that the patient fails to receive the correct drug or the indicated proper drug dosage.

Overall systems, traditional or automated, to provide medication to patients in hospitals. Elements of the system are: handling the physician's order, transcription of the order by nurse and/or pharmacist, filling the medication order, transfer to the nursing unit, and administration to the patient.

Information systems, usually computer-assisted, that enable providers to initiate medical procedures, prescribe medications, etc. These systems support medical decision-making and error-reduction during patient care.

The process of minimizing risk to an organization by developing systems to identify and analyze potential hazards to prevent accidents, injuries, and other adverse occurrences, and by attempting to handle events and incidents which do occur in such a manner that their effect and cost are minimized. Effective risk management has its greatest benefits in application to insurance in order to avert or minimize financial liability. (From Slee & Slee: Health care terms, 2d ed)

Overall systems, traditional or automated, to provide medication to patients.

The formal process of obtaining a complete and accurate list of each patient's current home medications including name, dosage, frequency, and route of administration, and comparing admission, transfer, and/or discharge medication orders to that list. The reconciliation is done to avoid medication errors.

Information systems, usually computer-assisted, designed to store, manipulate, and retrieve information for planning, organizing, directing, and controlling administrative activities associated with the provision and utilization of clinical pharmacy services.

Adjunctive computer programs in providing drug treatment to patients.

The use of COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS to store and transmit medical PRESCRIPTIONS.

Hospital department responsible for the receiving, storing, and distribution of pharmaceutical supplies.

Those persons legally qualified by education and training to engage in the practice of pharmacy.

Directions written for the obtaining and use of DRUGS.

Systems developed for collecting reports from government agencies, manufacturers, hospitals, physicians, and other sources on adverse drug reactions.

Disorders that result from the intended use of PHARMACEUTICAL PREPARATIONS. Included in this heading are a broad variety of chemically-induced adverse conditions due to toxicity, DRUG INTERACTIONS, and metabolic effects of pharmaceuticals.

Voluntary cooperation of the patient in taking drugs or medicine as prescribed. This includes timing, dosage, and frequency.

The development of systems to prevent accidents, injuries, and other adverse occurrences in an institutional setting. The concept includes prevention or reduction of adverse events or incidents involving employees, patients, or facilities. Examples include plans to reduce injuries from falls or plans for fire safety to promote a safe institutional environment.

The use of multiple drugs administered to the same patient, most commonly seen in elderly patients. It includes also the administration of excessive medication. Since in the United States most drugs are dispensed as single-agent formulations, polypharmacy, though using many drugs administered to the same patient, must be differentiated from DRUG COMBINATIONS, single preparations containing two or more drugs as a fixed dose, and from DRUG THERAPY, COMBINATION, two or more drugs administered separately for a combined effect. (From Segen, Dictionary of Modern Medicine, 1992)

Multi-step systematic review process used for improving safety by investigation of incidents to find what happened, why it happened, and to determine what can be done to prevent it from happening again.

Use of written, printed, or graphic materials upon or accompanying a drug container or wrapper. It includes contents, indications, effects, dosages, routes, methods, frequency and duration of administration, warnings, hazards, contraindications, side effects, precautions, and other relevant information.

Errors or mistakes committed by health professionals which result in harm to the patient. They include errors in diagnosis (DIAGNOSTIC ERRORS), errors in the administration of drugs and other medications (MEDICATION ERRORS), errors in the performance of surgical procedures, in the use of other types of therapy, in the use of equipment, and in the interpretation of laboratory findings. Medical errors are differentiated from MALPRACTICE in that the former are regarded as honest mistakes or accidents while the latter is the result of negligence, reprehensible ignorance, or criminal intent.

Computer-based information systems used to integrate clinical and patient information and provide support for decision-making in patient care.

Drugs intended for human or veterinary use, presented in their finished dosage form. Included here are materials used in the preparation and/or formulation of the finished dosage form.

The use of DRUGS to treat a DISEASE or its symptoms. One example is the use of ANTINEOPLASTIC AGENTS to treat CANCER.

Special hospitals which provide care for ill children.

The practice of administering medications in a manner that poses more risk than benefit, particularly where safer alternatives exist.

Hospitals engaged in educational and research programs, as well as providing medical care to the patients.

Personnel who provide nursing service to patients in an organized facility, institution, or agency.

Efforts to reduce risk, to address and reduce incidents and accidents that may negatively impact healthcare consumers.

Total pharmaceutical services provided to the public through community pharmacies.

Educational programs designed to inform nurses of recent advances in their fields.

Facilities for the preparation and dispensing of drugs.

The analysis of an activity, procedure, method, technique, or business to determine what must be accomplished and how the necessary operations may best be accomplished.

Drugs that cannot be sold legally without a prescription.

The hospital department which is responsible for the organization and administration of nursing activities.

Total pharmaceutical services provided by qualified PHARMACISTS. In addition to the preparation and distribution of medical products, they may include consultative services provided to agencies and institutions which do not have a qualified pharmacist.

Medical complexes consisting of medical school, hospitals, clinics, libraries, administrative facilities, etc.

Physical surroundings or conditions of a hospital or other health facility and influence of these factors on patients and staff.

Accidental or deliberate use of a medication or street drug in excess of normal dosage.

Deviations from the average or standard indices of refraction of the eye through its dioptric or refractive apparatus.

Acquiring information from a patient on past medical conditions and treatments.

The capability to perform acceptably those duties directly related to patient care.

Information systems, usually computer-assisted, designed to store, manipulate, and retrieve information for planning, organizing, directing, and controlling administrative activities associated with the provision and utilization of ambulatory care services and facilities.

A medical specialty concerned with maintaining health and providing medical care to children from birth to adolescence.

Personnel who provide nursing service to patients in a hospital.

The process of observing, recording, or detecting the effects of a chemical substance administered to an individual therapeutically or diagnostically.

Computer-based systems for input, storage, display, retrieval, and printing of information contained in a patient's medical record.

Compounds that inhibit or prevent the proliferation of CELLS.

A management function in which standards and guidelines are developed for the development, maintenance, and handling of forms and records.

Persons who receive ambulatory care at an outpatient department or clinic without room and board being provided.

Incorrect diagnoses after clinical examination or technical diagnostic procedures.

The administrative process of discharging the patient, alive or dead, from hospitals or other health facilities.

A detailed review and evaluation of selected clinical records by qualified professional personnel for evaluating quality of medical care.

Patterns of practice related to diagnosis and treatment as especially influenced by cost of the service requested and provided.

The selection, appointing, and scheduling of personnel.

Health care services provided to patients on an ambulatory basis, rather than by admission to a hospital or other health care facility. The services may be a part of a hospital, augmenting its inpatient services, or may be provided at a free-standing facility.

Fluid propulsion systems driven mechanically, electrically, or osmotically that are used to inject (or infuse) over time agents into a patient or experimental animal; used routinely in hospitals to maintain a patent intravenous line, to administer antineoplastic agents and other drugs in thromboembolism, heart disease, diabetes mellitus (INSULIN INFUSION SYSTEMS is also available), and other disorders.

Observation of a population for a sufficient number of persons over a sufficient number of years to generate incidence or mortality rates subsequent to the selection of the study group.

Studies used to test etiologic hypotheses in which inferences about an exposure to putative causal factors are derived from data relating to characteristics of persons under study or to events or experiences in their past. The essential feature is that some of the persons under study have the disease or outcome of interest and their characteristics are compared with those of unaffected persons.

Individuals enrolled in a school of pharmacy or a formal educational program leading to a degree in pharmacy.

Public Law No: 111-5, enacted February 2009, makes supplemental appropriations for job preservation and creation, infrastructure investment, energy efficiency and science, assistance to the unemployed, and State and local fiscal stabilization, for fiscal year ending September 30, 2009.

A group of indole-indoline dimers which are ALKALOIDS obtained from the VINCA genus of plants. They inhibit polymerization of TUBULIN into MICROTUBULES thus blocking spindle formation and arresting cells in METAPHASE. They are some of the most useful ANTINEOPLASTIC AGENTS.

Those areas of the hospital organization not considered departments which provide specialized patient care. They include various hospital special care wards.

Facilities which provide information concerning poisons and treatment of poisoning in emergencies.

Hospital units providing continuing surveillance and care to acutely ill newborn infants.

Any adverse condition in a patient occurring as the result of treatment by a physician, surgeon, or other health professional, especially infections acquired by a patient during the course of treatment.

The reciprocal interaction of two or more professional individuals.

Health care provided on a continuing basis from the initial contact, following the patient through all phases of medical care.

Publications printed and distributed daily, weekly, or at some other regular and usually short interval, containing news, articles of opinion (as editorials and letters), features, advertising, and announcements of current interest. (Webster's 3d ed)

Persons admitted to health facilities which provide board and room, for the purpose of observation, care, diagnosis or treatment.

The exchange or transmission of ideas, attitudes, or beliefs between individuals or groups.

Studies in which the presence or absence of disease or other health-related variables are determined in each member of the study population or in a representative sample at one particular time. This contrasts with LONGITUDINAL STUDIES which are followed over a period of time.

The total amount of work to be performed by an individual, a department, or other group of workers in a period of time.

The terms, expressions, designations, or symbols used in a particular science, discipline, or specialized subject area.

Freedom from exposure to danger and protection from the occurrence or risk of injury or loss. It suggests optimal precautions in the workplace, on the street, in the home, etc., and includes personal safety as well as the safety of property.

The self administration of medication not prescribed by a physician or in a manner not directed by a physician.

Voluntary cooperation of the patient in following a prescribed regimen.

Individuals participating in the health care system for the purpose of receiving therapeutic, diagnostic, or preventive procedures.

Systematic organization, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of specialized information, especially of a scientific or technical nature (From ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science, 1983). It often involves authenticating or validating information.

Professionals qualified by graduation from an accredited school of nursing and by passage of a national licensing examination to practice nursing. They provide services to patients requiring assistance in recovering or maintaining their physical or mental health.

Educational programs for pharmacists who have a bachelor's degree or a Doctor of Pharmacy degree entering a specific field of pharmacy. They may lead to an advanced degree.

The attainment or process of attaining a new level of performance or quality.

An aspect of personal behavior or lifestyle, environmental exposure, or inborn or inherited characteristic, which, on the basis of epidemiologic evidence, is known to be associated with a health-related condition considered important to prevent.

Predetermined sets of questions used to collect data - clinical data, social status, occupational group, etc. The term is often applied to a self-completed survey instrument.

Hospital units providing continuous surveillance and care to acutely ill patients.

The action of a drug that may affect the activity, metabolism, or toxicity of another drug.

A loosely defined grouping of drugs that have effects on psychological function. Here the psychotropic agents include the antidepressive agents, hallucinogens, and tranquilizing agents (including the antipsychotics and anti-anxiety agents).

Formal instruction, learning, or training in the preparation, dispensing, and proper utilization of drugs in the field of medicine.

Hospital department responsible for the organization and administration of psychiatric services.

The use of persons coached to feign symptoms or conditions of real diseases in a life-like manner in order to teach or evaluate medical personnel.

Attitudes of personnel toward their patients, other professionals, toward the medical care system, etc.

Institutions with permanent facilities and organized medical staff which provide the full range of hospital services primarily to a neighborhood area.

Professional medical personnel approved to provide care to patients in a hospital.

Activities and programs intended to assure or improve the quality of care in either a defined medical setting or a program. The concept includes the assessment or evaluation of the quality of care; identification of problems or shortcomings in the delivery of care; designing activities to overcome these deficiencies; and follow-up monitoring to ensure effectiveness of corrective steps.

Facilities which provide nursing supervision and limited medical care to persons who do not require hospitalization.

The various ways of administering a drug or other chemical to a site in a patient or animal from where the chemical is absorbed into the blood and delivered to the target tissue.

The region of southwest Asia and northeastern Africa usually considered as extending from Libya on the west to Afghanistan on the east. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988)

The process of accepting patients. The concept includes patients accepted for medical and nursing care in a hospital or other health care institution.

Hospitals maintained by a university for the teaching of medical students, postgraduate training programs, and clinical research.

Small-scale tests of methods and procedures to be used on a larger scale if the pilot study demonstrates that these methods and procedures can work.

Care which provides integrated, accessible health care services by clinicians who are accountable for addressing a large majority of personal health care needs, developing a sustained partnership with patients, and practicing in the context of family and community. (JAMA 1995;273(3):192)

The teaching or training of patients concerning their own health needs.

Statistical measures of utilization and other aspects of the provision of health care services including hospitalization and ambulatory care.

Agents that control agitated psychotic behavior, alleviate acute psychotic states, reduce psychotic symptoms, and exert a quieting effect. They are used in SCHIZOPHRENIA; senile dementia; transient psychosis following surgery; or MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION; etc. These drugs are often referred to as neuroleptics alluding to the tendency to produce neurological side effects, but not all antipsychotics are likely to produce such effects. Many of these drugs may also be effective against nausea, emesis, and pruritus.

Systematic gathering of data for a particular purpose from various sources, including questionnaires, interviews, observation, existing records, and electronic devices. The process is usually preliminary to statistical analysis of the data.

Medicines that can be sold legally without a DRUG PRESCRIPTION.

The confinement of a patient in a hospital.

The utilization of drugs as reported in individual hospital studies, FDA studies, marketing, or consumption, etc. This includes drug stockpiling, and patient drug profiles.

Beliefs and values shared by all members of the organization. These shared values, which are subject to change, are reflected in the day to day management of the organization.

An infant during the first month after birth.

The levels of excellence which characterize the health service or health care provided based on accepted standards of quality.

Studies in which subsets of a defined population are identified. These groups may or may not be exposed to factors hypothesized to influence the probability of the occurrence of a particular disease or other outcome. Cohorts are defined populations which, as a whole, are followed in an attempt to determine distinguishing subgroup characteristics.