Why is it so hard to reduce harm from medicines?

Pharmacotherapy is the most common therapeutic intervention in healthcare, but more than 200 million medication errors occur every year in England alone. This may in part reflect greater awareness and better reporting; however, the incidence of patient harm from medication has remained broadly uncha...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Andrew Rochford
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-12-01
Series:Future Healthcare Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2514664524015959
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1846123362154184704
author Andrew Rochford
author_facet Andrew Rochford
author_sort Andrew Rochford
collection DOAJ
description Pharmacotherapy is the most common therapeutic intervention in healthcare, but more than 200 million medication errors occur every year in England alone. This may in part reflect greater awareness and better reporting; however, the incidence of patient harm from medication has remained broadly unchanged for decades, despite concerted national campaigns and global safety initiatives. Rapid technological and therapeutic advances together with the complexity of modern healthcare make reducing harm from medicines more challenging than ever. This opinion piece will provide a perspective on some of those challenges, as well as highlighting areas of best practice and emerging work. While system and process improvements are required, individual clinicians need to remain vigilant and reflect on medications at each patient interaction.
format Article
id doaj-art-b7024a1e2be04278be093bd472d73ad1
institution Kabale University
issn 2514-6645
language English
publishDate 2024-12-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Future Healthcare Journal
spelling doaj-art-b7024a1e2be04278be093bd472d73ad12024-12-14T06:31:52ZengElsevierFuture Healthcare Journal2514-66452024-12-01114100205Why is it so hard to reduce harm from medicines?Andrew Rochford0Consultant Gastroenterologist, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, Improvement Clinical Director, Royal College of Physicians, Chair, Royal Colleges Medicines Safety Joint Working Group, Care Quality Improvement Directorate, 11 St Andrews Place, Regent's Park, London, NW1 4LE, UKPharmacotherapy is the most common therapeutic intervention in healthcare, but more than 200 million medication errors occur every year in England alone. This may in part reflect greater awareness and better reporting; however, the incidence of patient harm from medication has remained broadly unchanged for decades, despite concerted national campaigns and global safety initiatives. Rapid technological and therapeutic advances together with the complexity of modern healthcare make reducing harm from medicines more challenging than ever. This opinion piece will provide a perspective on some of those challenges, as well as highlighting areas of best practice and emerging work. While system and process improvements are required, individual clinicians need to remain vigilant and reflect on medications at each patient interaction.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2514664524015959Medication safetyPatient safetyMedication errors
spellingShingle Andrew Rochford
Why is it so hard to reduce harm from medicines?
Future Healthcare Journal
Medication safety
Patient safety
Medication errors
title Why is it so hard to reduce harm from medicines?
title_full Why is it so hard to reduce harm from medicines?
title_fullStr Why is it so hard to reduce harm from medicines?
title_full_unstemmed Why is it so hard to reduce harm from medicines?
title_short Why is it so hard to reduce harm from medicines?
title_sort why is it so hard to reduce harm from medicines
topic Medication safety
Patient safety
Medication errors
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2514664524015959
work_keys_str_mv AT andrewrochford whyisitsohardtoreduceharmfrommedicines