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Nurses see red to cut drug errors Nurses see red to cut drug errors
(about 6 hours later)
Staff at a Scottish hospital are testing out a simple idea to reduce the number of mistakes made when making up patients' drugs.Staff at a Scottish hospital are testing out a simple idea to reduce the number of mistakes made when making up patients' drugs.
Nurses in charge of the drugs round at Gartnavel hospital in Glasgow wear red tabards when dispensing drugs.Nurses in charge of the drugs round at Gartnavel hospital in Glasgow wear red tabards when dispensing drugs.
Staff and patients on two wards at the hospital are told not to speak to them when they have got the garments on.Staff and patients on two wards at the hospital are told not to speak to them when they have got the garments on.
Nurses said the idea stopped constant interruptions and has proved a success with staff.Nurses said the idea stopped constant interruptions and has proved a success with staff.
Studies have suggested that as many as one in 10 patients experience some kind of drugs mix up.
The NHS in Scotland does not record how many result in fatalities, but a report in England and Wales found there were 1,200 deaths in one year alone.
Correct doses
Mistakes also add to the time each patient spends in hospital.
Estimates have put the annual cost to the NHS in Scotland at £50m.
Clare McRae, a nurse in Gartnavel's gastroenterology unit, said the system helped staff cope with the increasing numbers of medications being taken by patients.
"We have to make sure that the drugs that they are on don't interact with one another and that the doses they are being prescribed are the correct doses," she said.
"Due to frequent interruptions and the drug rounds not finishing until quite late on we had to introduce something that would be of benefit."