Editing Emergency department (section)

==Medication errors==
[[File:Dartmouth General Hospital emergency department.jpg|thumb|Emergency Department of [[Dartmouth General Hospital]]]]

[[Medication error]]s are issues that lead to incorrect medication distribution or potential for patient harm.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/MedicationErrors/default.htm|title=Medication Errors Related to Drugs|last=Research|first=Center for Drug Evaluation and|website=FDA.gov |access-date=22 February 2018}}</ref> As of 2014, around 3% of all hospital-related adverse effects were due to medication errors in the emergency department (ED); between 4% and 14% of medications given to patients in the ED were incorrect and children were particularly at risk.<ref name="Weant_2014">{{cite journal | vauthors = Weant KA, Bailey AM, Baker SN | title = Strategies for reducing medication errors in the emergency department | journal = Open Access Emergency Medicine | volume = 6 | pages = 45–55 | date = 23 July 2014 | pmid = 27147879 | pmc = 4753984 | doi = 10.2147/OAEM.S64174 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

Errors can arise if the doctor prescribes the wrong medication, if the prescription intended by the doctor is not the one actually communicated to the [[pharmacy]] due to an illegibly written [[Medical prescription|prescription]] or misheard verbal order, if the pharmacy dispenses the wrong medication, or if the medication is then given to the wrong person.<ref name="Weant_2014" />

The ED is a riskier environment than other areas of the hospital due to medical practitioners not knowing the patient as well as they know longer term hospital patients, due to time pressure caused by overcrowding, and due to the emergency-driven nature of the medicine that is practiced there.<ref name="pmid12954674"/>