Medication Safety during Anesthesia and the Perioperative Period

Description

With medication errors in healthcare an internationally recognised problem, this much-needed book delivers a comprehensive approach to understanding medication safety in the perioperative period. It reviews what medication adverse events are, and how often and where these errors occur, as well as exploring human cognitive psychology and explaining why things can go wrong at any time in a complex system. Detailed discussions around mistakes, judgement errors, slips and lapses, and violations, are presented alongside real-life examples of the indistinct line between negligence and inevitable error. The co-authors bring a wide and practical perspective to the theories and interventions that are available to improve medication safety, including legal and regulatory actions that further or impede safety. Essential reading for anesthesiologists, nurses, pharmacists and other perioperative team members committed to improving medication safety for their patients, and also an invaluable resource for those who fund, manage and regulate healthcare.

Alan Merry is a Professor of Anesthesiology and Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at the University of Auckland. Joyce Wahr is a Professor of Anesthesiology and Vice-Chair for Quality and Safety in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Minnesota.

'a valuable contribution to the medical literature ... This book will highlight important concepts in the prevention of medication errors and will definitely help the patients of those who read it.' Robert R. Gaiser, Yale School of Medicine