Reducing drug infusion errors using drug error reduction software

Infusion devices are commonly used in veterinary practices or referral hospitals. Research shows that 30 per cent of recorded patient safety events are medication errors, and while drug error reduction software (DERS) was developed two decades ago as a means to reduce these errors, it is yet to be adopted in the veterinary profession. This article explores DERS and discusses how it works and how to implement it in a veterinary setting. It follows on from two previous articles on human factors and medical devices, and incident investigations.