Source: BBC Health; National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA)
Roughly equivalent to our JCoHA (Joint Commission) here in the US, the NPSA has been taking notes on the administration of medications in English and Welsh Hospitals. Their findings? In every hospital in England and Wales, there were reports of patients not receiving their medications on time or at all.
From 9/06 to 6/09, the NPSA recorded reports of 68 cases of severe injury and 27 deaths with an additional 21,000 cases of drug administration delays or non-administration. Since reports to the NPSA are voluntary, the organization believes that these figures are underestimated.
Alarmingly, antibiotics (drugs to treat infection) and anticoagulants (blood thinners) and cardiac drugs are the most likely to harm patients if missed. Although even antidepressants and Parkinson’s Disease drugs can have dramatic effects upon patient wellness if they are not timely received.
And if this is happening in England and Wales, consider the implications for an area as populated as the US with all of its hospitals and nursing home facilities.
~Posted by D.M. Schwadron, Esquire