Medication errors are one of the most common forms of medical malpractice. You might think that most medication errors would involve a nurse handing the wrong pills to someone during their shift, but the truth is that there is a range of mistakes that can occur with the intravenous or IV administration of drugs.
Patients in hospitals are dependent on the care they receive, and when staff members make mistakes regarding the drugs, those mistakes could impact the efficacy of the drugs or negatively impact their treatment. When it comes to IV medications, patients don’t even have the opportunity to double-check things the way that they can before taking a psychical pill.
What mistakes happen during IV drug administration
In theory, IV administration seems like a simple way to avoid errors. Much of what happens is the result of a machine that computes the dosage and slowly delivers it to the patient. However, IV drugs can actually be a major source of risk for medication error while in the hospital.
A small-scale study of 134 patients found that mistakes during the IV administration of a drug were quite prevalent. The group of patients received 366 IV drug treatments. Of those treatments, about 46% or 169 treatments resulted in some kind of mistake.
Problems with timing were the leading issue, although missed doses, improperly mixed medications, improper volume or dosage and even incorrect medication administration can also all happen with IV drugs. There are a host of other problems that can arise with IV drug administration, such as failing to flush out the line and thereby contaminating later drug deliveries.
Patients and loved ones of people injured by improper drug administration have the right to take legal action by filing a medical malpractice claim.
