Unreported Med Errors in the Nursing Home

This report states that only 5% of med errors in the nursing home are reported to Facility Administration despite the fact that "staffers know about virtually all errors that occur." Nurses blame their own supervisors for the non-reporting, claiming that managers would prefer not to know about the errors.

There have been two recent medication administration focuses in our state recently. One involved the deaths of several infants at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis; the other a news expose on discarding prescription information containing confidential PHI. Our management team has developed a point system for tracking individual nurse medication errors, but this does not solve the problem of non-reporting. I will appreciate any information that others can share about creating a culture of trust in reporting these important med errors. More to come...

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