BMC Cancer | open access - Chemotherapeutic errors in hospitalised cancer patients: attributable damage and extra costs

Background

"The report, "To Err is Human", from the Institute of Medicine estimated that between 44, 000 and 98, 000 patients die each year in the USA as a result of medical errors [1]. Although certain adverse events are unavoidable, many are preventable, with medication errors being a major cause of such accidents [2]. Medication errors may occur anytime and at any stage during the medication use process, from the prescription of the drug to its preparation, dispensing, and final administration to the patient. Moreover, the medication process involves the whole medical team, involving physicians, pharmacists, and nurses [3].

Medication errors with antineoplastic drugs may be catastrophic due to the drugs' high toxicity and small therapeutic index in addition to the health status of cancer patients. A study revealed that antineoplastic agents were the second most common cause of fatal medication errors [4]. While overdosage is likely to result in permanent damage to the patient, underdosage may compromise the success of therapy. Although several individual case reports focused on medication errors [5-8], some of which were fatal [9-12], an overview of the issue is still needed......."