ISMP Medication Error Prevention

Question 1

According to ISMP, what is the most effective strategy for preventing medication errors at the system level?

Accepted Answer

Designing systems that make errors difficult to commit

Answer

ISMP advocates for system-level redesign that makes errors hard to commit, recognizing that most errors result from system failures rather than individual negligence.

Question 2

ISMP's root cause analysis (RCA) approach to medication errors focuses on:

Accepted Answer

Finding underlying system and process failures

Answer

RCA examines the root causes of errors by identifying systemic and process failures rather than placing blame on individuals.

Question 3

Which type of error reporting does ISMP encourage healthcare facilities to adopt?

Accepted Answer

Voluntary, non-punitive near-miss and error reporting

Answer

ISMP advocates for voluntary, non-punitive reporting systems so that near misses and errors are reported without fear, enabling learning and prevention.

Question 4

Forcing functions in medication safety are design features that:

Accepted Answer

Make it impossible or very difficult to perform an unsafe action

Answer

Forcing functions are physical or system constraints that prevent errors from occurring, such as IV tubing that cannot be connected to an enteral port.

Question 5

ISMP recommends that medication orders be written using metric units and avoid which abbreviation that commonly causes errors?

Accepted Answer

U for units

Answer

The abbreviation 'U' for units is on ISMP's error-prone abbreviations list because it can be misread as a zero, turning 4U into 40 units.

ISMP - Institute for Safe Medication Practices Practice Test

ISMP - Institute for Safe Medication Practices Practice Test

ISMP Medication Error Prevention