Elsevier

Critical Care Clinics

Volume 21, Issue 1, January 2005, Pages 91-110
Critical Care Clinics

Medication safety and transfusion errors in the ICU and beyond

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccc.2004.08.003Get rights and content

Section snippets

Surveillance systems

Over the last 12 years there has been an increase in national systems that look at the process of blood transfusion safety. The term “blood transfusion safety” refers to the safety of the overall transfusion process from the donor to the recipient. This is in contrast to the term “blood safety,” which refers to the safety of the product. Although blood safety has increased dramatically over the last few decades, the concept of blood transfusion safety is receiving attention only now [40], [54].

Summary

Medication and transfusion errors overlap with respect to causes, types, and solutions. The adoption of newer technologies (eg, bar coding for patient identification and “smart” pumps) can aid in the reduction of these errors. The development of committees, individuals, or teams (pharmacists and transfusion officers) to monitor the processes of ordering, selecting, dispensing, and administering medications and blood transfusions can be a possible “low tech” solution. This also should provide

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Abigail Ziff for her invaluable contribution in the preparation of this manuscript.

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