In the years following the landmark study from the Institute of Medicine, To Error is Human, regulatory agencies and professional organizations have developed protocols and standards to reduce mistakes and enhance patient safety. While progress has been made, medical errors continue to be a leading cause of death.

Medical Errors: Prevention Practices, the second in a three-part series on preventing Medical Errors, discusses important changes in healthcare practice that provide strategies for reducing most medical errors and improving patient safety. This includes development of standardized safety procedures and the implementation of the Joint Commission s National Patient Safety Goals and Universal Protocol for Preventing Wrong Site, Wrong Procedure and Wrong Person Surgery.

Errors that occur when providing medication is one of the most common and most avoidable types of medical errors. Medical Errors: Preventing Medication Errors, the final program in the three-part series on preventing Medical Errors, provides an overview of the different kinds of medication errors that can occur, and offers specific guidance on how nursing staff can prevent these errors.