Key Terms
Addiction
compulsive and uncontrollable use of a drug substance for reasons other than prescribed
Contaminated product error
when aseptic technique is not followed in compounding, and the drug is no longer sterile and causes a microorganism infection
Human failure
an error generated by failure that occurs at an individual level
Medication noncompliance
failure to take medication therapy as the physician instructs; also called nonadberence
Psychological dependence
when the patient takes a drug on a regular basis because it produces a sense of well-being that the parient does nor want to consider living or being without
Adverse drug error
occurs when the prescribed drug initiates an allergy or an adverse drug interaction flag that was missed
Distraction error
occurs when a technician or pharmacist is interrupted in the middle of a filling process and forgets a portion of key information or train of thought, and some information or a safety decision gets missed
Incorrect assumption error
occurs when an essential piece of information cannot be verified, and an assumption is made
MEDMARX
an Internet-based program of the USP for use by hospitals and healthcare systems for documenting, tracking, and identifying trends for adverse events and medication errors
REACT
an acronym for what to do in the case of a robbery
ADR (adverse drug reaction)
a negative consequence to a patient from taking a particular drug, due to the narure of the drug itself, for certain vulnerable populations
Documentation error
when essential infor-marion is not properly noted, such as a prescription, allergy, patient request, or other information in the medication profile, or not properly processing instance or billing
iPledge program
a specific risk assessment program for isocrecinoin, which can cause a high incidence of birth defects if noc properly monitored
MedWatch
a voluntary program by the FDA char allows any healthcare professional or consumer to report a serious adverse event associated with the use of any drug, biological device, or dietary supplement
REMS (risk evaluation and mitigation strategy)
a program designed by the FDA for prescribers, pharmacies, and patients to more closely monitor selected high-risk drugs
Alert fatigue
where the technician and/or the pharmacist starts to have a relaxed attitude and bypasses drug utilization warnings
Drug seeker
a parient who is dependent on or addicted to drugs, who may receive prescrip-cions for the same or similar controlled drugs from several physicians and pharmacies
Medguide
printed information in which the FDA communicates side effects, adverse reactions, and black-box warnings for high-risk drugs
Omission error
an administration error in which a prescribed dose is not given
Rushed error
occurs because of the pressure of meeting corporate or self-imposed time constraints and thus not fully checking and double-checking information by the technician and pharmacist
Capture error
an error that occurs when focus on a task is diverted elsewhere and, there-fore, che error goes undetected
Drug tolerance
when the body adapts to a drug so that higher doses are needed to produce the same pharmacological effect
Medication error
any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the healthcare pro-fessional, patient, or consumer
Pharmacist Recovery Network (PRN)
an organization to provide assistance and treatment for impaired colleagues who seek help without the risk of losing their license or registration
Technical failure
an error generated by failure of equipment