Patient safety through technology-assisted medication: Practical ways to improve

Errors involving medication can occur all too easily in hospitals, whether it be the wrong drug, the wrong dose, or even the wrong combination. For example, an incident occurred at a university hospital where, following joint surgery, the medication was prescribed in the wrong dosage. Although this incident was not fatal, it did lead to life-threatening complications. But what would have happened if a member of staff had confused two identical-looking vials of colourless liquid, or if the hospital pharmacy had switched to a product from a different manufacturer that produces similar-looking versions of another medicine, but with a completely different composition and therefore a different effect on the patient's body? The number of mix-ups that can occur is enormous; despite the best possible training and experience of nursing staff, they can still happen - after all, according to statistics, one in three in-patient in Austria receives the wrong medication.