Safer medicines management in primary care.
Avery AJ., Sheikh A., Hurwitz B., Smeaton L., Chen Y-F., Howard R., Cantrill J., Royal S.
Errors in the medicines management process represent an important source of iatrogenic harm in primary care. Most errors result from underlying systems-based problems that are amenable to intervention and potentially preventable. In this paper, we seek to identify the frequency of medication-related morbidity in primary care, understand the underlying systemic reasons that increase risk of medication-related errors and iatrogenic harm, and suggest strategies for improving the safety of medicines management.