Hospitals are encouraged to develop a list of targeted HAMs that is comprehensive enough to address the most potentially harmful errors. Many hospitals select medications from ISMP’s List of High-Alert Medications, which is updated every few years based on error reports submitted to the ISMP National Medication Errors Reporting Program, reports of harmful errors in the literature, and input from practitioners and safety experts.
It is essential for every hospital’s list to include: concentrated electrolytes, neuromuscular blocking agents, opioids (all, not just patient-controlled analgesia), anticoagulants, insulin, epidural or intrathecal medications, and chemotherapy.
Other drugs from the ISMP list should be added if use is prevalent or misuse is a concern.
Dr. Khalid Abulmajd
Healthcare Quality Consultant