TY - JOUR T1 - Adverse drug events leading to medical emergency team activation in hospitals: what can we learn? JF - BMJ Quality & Safety JO - BMJ Qual Saf DO - 10.1136/bmjqs-2022-015275 SP - bmjqs-2022-015275 AU - Marja Härkänen AU - Tiina Syyrilä AU - Lotta Schepel Y1 - 2022/11/21 UR - http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/early/2022/11/20/bmjqs-2022-015275.abstract N2 - Adverse drug events (ADEs) raise major concerns in hospital care by causing morbidity and mortality in patients despite active attention to medication safety.1–3 However, less attention has been paid to ADEs that lead to medication-related rapid response team (RRT) or medical emergency team (MET) activations, even though this kind of data can be very valuable for learning from incidents and understanding the variety of its contributing factors. In this issue of BMJ Quality & Safety, Levkovich4 estimated the incidence and preventability of medication-related MET activations and described the associated adverse medication events. In this editorial, we summarise the key findings from the study, comment on its strengths and recommend further developments in this field of research.Levkovich4 analysed 146 medication-related MET activations in two academic teaching hospitals in Australia. Levkovich performed an observational cohort study using retrospective case review of MET activation forms, medical records and nursing notes. Cardiac arrest and non-inpatient cases were excluded. MET activation reports were used for the blinded review to assess whether the activation was medication-related or not and, if so, the contributing medication, type of adverse medication events, and preventability. Medications were coded using Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) categories.5 Both hospitals met national medication safety standards and used bar code scanning, smart pump technology and drug libraries for infusion administration. In addition, 24/7 RRT/MET alerting system was in use throughout the hospitals, but no automated monitoring or early warning systems were in place.One-quarter of MET activations involved medications (n=146, 23.2%). These events often occurred early in … ER -