THE World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a challenge to governments across the globe, urging them to reduce the burden of medication-related harm by 50% within the next five years.
Key areas of focus identified include polypharmacy and transitions of care, while the WHO Clinical Excellence Commission has coined a new acronym summarising high risk medications: A PINCH.
This is explained as Anti-infective agents; Potassium and other electrolytes; Insulin; Narcotics and other sedatives; Chemotherapeutic and immunosuppressive agents and Heparin and anticoagulants.
The Medication without harm initiative commits WHO to using its convening and coordinating powers to drive forward global actions on medication safety, and will require politicians and health care leaders to prioritise safer use of medicines.
WHO said measures to reduce this harm would include educating and empowering patients and carers; developing tools to assist frontline health care professionals; and "engineering new systems of care to create resilience against the factors that predispose to the risk of medication errors" - see who.int.
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