The ANA worked closely with the reporter on the column. ANA President Mary Foley, MS, RN, and ANA Senior Policy Fellow Patricia Rowell, PhD, RN, along with American Journal of Nursing Editor Diana Mason, PhD, RN, FAAN, were among those quoted. The ANA is sending a letter to the editor thanking The Post for its focus on this crucial issue and sharing the results of the ANA study from this past spring (see press release) that showed that nurse staffing has a direct and positive relationship with patient outcomes.

Omission errors, improper dose/quantity and unauthorized drug errors were the three most frequently reported types of errors, according to the "Summary of 1999 Information Submitted to MedMARx: A National Database for Hospital Medication Error Reporting."

Released Dec. 13 by U.S. Pharmacopeia, the report summarizes the data of 6,224 medication error records from 56 facilities, including community, government and teaching hospitals.

Encouraging report results included findings that most errors (97% or 6,037) did not result in patient harm. In 187 of the records (3%) where errors resulted in harm or death, 181 errors resulted in temporary patient harm, five errors caused permanent patient harm or a near-death event, and one error resulted in a patient death. Other report findings include:

• Of the five phases of the medication use process, errors were reported to have originated in two primary areas: administering and documenting. (The other phases include ordering, dispensing, and monitoring.)
• Insulin and the anticoagulant products heparin and warfarin were the medications most often associated with medication errors reported during the studied period.
• In 32% of the records where a documented action was taken due to a medication error, the personnel involved with initiating or perpetuating the error were reportedly not informed of their involvement in the medication error event.

The MedMARx database report findings come one year after an Institute of Medicine (IOM) report that focused national attention on medical errors. MedMARx is an Internet-accessible database for hospitals to report and track medication errors anonymously.

"The data collected in the first full year of the MedMARx program is a glimpse into the types and causes of medication errors," said Roger Williams, MD, USP executive vice president and CEO. "The data indicate that, while many errors do not even reach the patient or cause harm, they still are occurring. We look forward to future years of data that will continue to guide hospital leadership and health professionals in their efforts to prevent medication errors."

ANA Board member Elaine Williams, RN, NP, served as ANA's representative on this year-long initiative. Members of the Commission signed a pledge of commitment to four principles: to be involved in the community, put youth violence prevention into practice, become educated about youth violence prevention and intervention and to advocate for youth violence prevention.

Results of Hoffmann-La Roche's studies are available in the 12/07/00 New England Journal of Medicine.

ANA was actively involved in advocating for the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act which was signed into law this November. The Act is designed to protect health care workers from the 800,000 needlesticks injuries which occur annually and puts workers at risk for blood-borne viruses such as HIV and hepatitis C.

Fifty (50) nurses will be randomly selected to receive a $25 certificate toward the purchase of ANA publications.

Please take time to fill out the questions in both sections of the survey. Part one has questions about your work environment, and part two has demographic questions.

All information received through this survey will be held in strictest confidence. All information will be used in the aggregate with no individual information being used. Respondents will not be contacted for any solicitation purposes.