Are analgesics commonly involved in medication errors in nursing homes?
A study of North Carolina nursing homes shows that medication errors disproportionately included central nervous system agents and analgesics. The analgesics most commonly involved in an error were hydrocodone and hydrocodone combinations and the fentanyl patch.1 Q: Are opioids more prone to medication errors because of the frequent need to calculate doses as well as different potencies among opioids and routes of administration? A: Opioid calculation errors are common when performing mg to mL conversions in calculating an intravenous opioid dose and in equianalgesic dosing. A national survey of patterns of errors with opioids in inpatient units shows that hydromorphone errors are more likely to be overdoses, with harm occurring because the initial dose given was higher than the recommended range (see abstract). Oxycodone errors were more likely to be wrong drug errors, often because of confusion between immediate- and sustained-release formulations. There are also numerous errors of p
