New Guidance for Medication Safety in the ICU
wolterskluwercdi.com
Critically ill patients are a population at high risk for more frequent and more severe medication-related events. Critically ill patients receive twice the number of medications that non-critically ill, hospitalized patients receive, thus increasing the opportunity for adverse drug events to occur. ICU patients are more likely to have drug-drug interactions, drug accumulation due to failing organs, and a sensitivity to drug responses resulting from their labile status. The complexity of the patient’s drug regimens and the environment provide a risk for patient harm.