Understanding Medication Errors (NAPS)—Recent events that have received national news cov- erage have highlighted the impact of medication errors on our society and the need to eliminate events that result in disabling medical injuries or death. Because every hospital has an The National Database to Reduce Hospital Medication Errors obligation to provide its patients with a safe level of care, the U.S. By enrolling in the MedMARx Program, participating hospitals have made a commitment to Maryland has launched Med- hour access to valuable, cutting- Pharmacopeia (USP) in Rockville, MARx™(pronounced med-marks), an Internet-accessible database for medication error reporting. MedMARxis a program devel- oped through the experience of the USP Practitioners’ Reporting Network. Since 1820, USP has established quality standards for medicines in the U.S. Today’s Pharmacopeia provides standards for more than 3,700 drugs and dosage forms for medicines and dietary supplements. More than 300 hospitals na- tionwide are engaged in the program that anonymouslycollects, monitors, and tracks medication error data in a nationally standardized format. “MedMARx was developed to help hospitals reduce medication errors by learning from the adverse experiences of others and sharing the successful solutions andpolicies instituted by others,” said Diane D. Cousins, USP vice president for practitioner and product experience. ensure that their staff has 24- edge technology that enables them to quickly and easily re- port medication errors. Using MedMARx’s powerful search capability, the hospital also is able to categorize errors, then compare experiences based upon type and cause oferror, level of staff involved, and contributing factors surrounding the error. By applying lessons learned, insti- tutions can take actions to pre- vent future errors. USP will use information col- lected through the MedMARxProgram to: Develop better practice stan- dards through strategic partnerships with institutions and governmentagencies; Develop educational materi- als for practitioners and health care institutions; and Develop standards for drug packaging andlabeling. More information about Med- MARx is available at www.usp.org/ medmarx or at 800-227-8772.
