Medication safety in high-risk situations

Overview

As part of the Global Patient Safety Challenge: Medication Without Harm, WHO has asked countries and key stakeholders to prioritize three areas for strong commitment, early action and effective management to protect patients from harm while maximizing the benefit from medication, namely:

• medication safety in transitions of care
• medication safety in polypharmacy
• medication safety in high-risk situations

Medication safety in high-risk situations

High-risk situations are more often associated with significant harm due to unsafe medication practices or medication errors. This report outlines three main factors contributing to high-risk situations: i) medications, particularly high-risk (high-alert) medications, ii) provider/ patient factors, and iii) systems factors (work environment). One or more of these factors, acting alone or in combination may trigger unsafe medication practices or medication errors. The report also outlines how a range of sustainable strategies of proven efficacy can be developed and implemented in conjunction to reduce the risk of harm associated with high risk situations.