White paper - Call to action on the urgent need to reduce medication errors in hospitals to prevent patient and second victim harm (22 March 2022)

Summary

Medication errors are the most common adverse event in hospitals and have significant economic and health consequences. This white paper developed by the European Collaborative Action on Medication Errors and Traceability (ECAMET) Alliance collects the results of a pan-European survey on medication errors. It includes 25 reports comprising 13 country reports in English, eight translations in other languages, a private hospitals report, specialised oncology and ICU reports and one consolidated report.

It makes several recommendations to reduce medication errors in hospitals and highlights the need to:

• establish a culture of safety.
• create strategies to improve communication.
• raise awareness and organise regular multi-disciplinary training meetings.
• systematically use accreditation/certification systems.
• introduce technological tools.