A continuous quality improvement project to reduce medication error in the emergency department

BACKGROUND: Medication errors are a common source of adverse healthcare incidents particularly in the emergency department (ED) that has a number of factors that make it prone to medication errors. This project aims to reduce medication errors and improve the health and economic outcomes of clinical care in Hong Kong ED. METHODS: In 2009, a task group was formed to identify problems that potentially endanger medication safety and developed strategies to eliminate these problems. RESULTS: Responsible officers were assigned to look after seven error-prone areas. Strategies were proposed, discussed, endorsed and promulgated to eliminate the problems identified. A reduction of medication incidents (MI) from 16 to 6 was achieved before and after the improvement work. CONCLUSION: This project successfully established a concrete organizational structure to safeguard error-prone areas of medication safety in a sustainable manner.