Joint Commission Topic Library

Ambulatory Health Care, Hospitals, Critical Access Hospitals, Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Home Care

Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 39: Preventing pediatric medication errors

Errors associated with medications are believed to be the most common type of medical error and are a significant cause of preventable adverse events.

04/11/2008

Speak Up: Help Avoid Mistakes With Your Medicines

Medicine mistakes happen every day—at the doctor’s office or hospital, even at home. You can get the wrong medicine. Or, you can be given the wrong amount of medicine.

04/01/2008

Speak Up: My Medication List Wallet Card - Expanded

List all of your prescription medicines,over-the-counter medicines (for example, aspirin) vitamins, herbs diet supplements, natural remedies, amount of alcohol you drink each day or week, ...

02/07/2007

Ambulatory Health Care, Hospitals, Critical Access Hospitals, Behavioral Health Care, Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Office-Based Surgery, Home Care, Disease-Specific Care, Health Care Staffing Services

The Sorry Works! Coalition: Making the Case for Full Disclosure

The Sorry Works! Coalition, an organization of doctors, lawyers, insurers, and patient advocates, is dedicated to promoting full disclosure and apologies for medical errors.

05/26/2006

Ambulatory Health Care, Hospitals, Critical Access Hospitals, Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Office-Based Surgery, Home Care

Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 35: Using medication reconciliation to prevent errors

Medication reconciliation is the process of comparing a patient's medication orders to all of the medications that the patient has been taking.

01/25/2006

Ambulatory Health Care, Hospitals, Critical Access Hospitals, Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Office-Based Surgery, Home Care

Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 23: Medication errors related to potentially dangerous abbreviations

One of the major causes of medication errors is the ongoing use of potentially dangerous abbreviations and dose expressions.

09/01/2001

Ambulatory Health Care, Hospitals, Critical Access Hospitals, Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Office-Based Surgery, Home Care

Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 19: Look-alike, sound-alike drug names

Since the initial publication of the Joint Commission's Sentinel Event Alert in 1998, several issues have been devoted to the topic of medication errors and the identification, prevention, and...

05/01/2001

Hospitals, Critical Access Hospitals, Office-Based Surgery

Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 16: Mix-up Leads to a Medication Error

Recently, the Joint Commission's Board of Commissioners approved new and revised standards directly focused on patient safety and medical/health care error reduction in hospitals.

02/27/2001

Ambulatory Health Care, Hospitals, Critical Access Hospitals, Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Home Care

Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 11: High-Alert Medications and Patient Safety

Since the Joint Commission began tracking sentinel events in 1995, the Accreditation Committee of the Joint Commission's Board of Commissioners has reviewed 89 cases related to medication errors.

11/19/1999

The Joint Commission

Accreditation

Accreditation Top Spots

Certification

Certification Top Spots

Standards Information

Standards Quick Links

Measurement

Quick Links

Topics

Information For

About Us

Quick Links

Topic Library

Topic Library Resources

Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 39: Preventing pediatric medication errors

Speak Up: Help Avoid Mistakes With Your Medicines

Speak Up: My Medication List Wallet Card - Expanded

The Sorry Works! Coalition: Making the Case for Full Disclosure

Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 35: Using medication reconciliation to prevent errors

Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 23: Medication errors related to potentially dangerous abbreviations

Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 19: Look-alike, sound-alike drug names

Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 16: Mix-up Leads to a Medication Error

Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 11: High-Alert Medications and Patient Safety