The nurse’s primary role in the medication process is to ensure that drugs are administered safely to patients, thus reducing the risk of unnecessary harm or injury. High-alert medications are a particular concern for healthcare professionals, since they are associated with an increased risk of causing patient harm. This article identifies high-risk medications and outlines measures that can be used to prevent potential harm to patients as a result of these medications, including computerised provider order entry, Tall Man lettering, order sets, independent double-checks and proactive patient monitoring.
Nursing Standard. 31, 47, 42-52. doi: 10.7748/ns.2017.e10849
Correspondence Peer reviewThis article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software
Conflict of interestNone declared
Received: 20 February 2017
Accepted: 31 May 2017
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