High Error Rates for Outpatient Cancer Treatment

According to MedPage Today, "Outpatient chemotherapy treatment is riddled with mistakes, for both adults and children, researchers here found in a chart review."

The article went on to state, ""Improved communication between health care providers and families of patients with cancer about home medication administration may be an important first step for preventing frequent home medication errors among pediatric patients with cancer," they said.

They added that, for parents who are dosing their children at home, color-coding or marking lines on syringes has been shown to reduce mistakes. Demonstrating dosing techniques is also beneficial, the researchers said.

Dr. Walsh and colleagues noted that the error rates they found were substantially higher than in other studies that used different methods"

Most errors were the result of at-appointment changes in medication that differed from the original chemotherapy regimen ordered at the outset of the months'-long therapy.

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