Systemic causes of in-hospital intravenous medication errors: a systematic review.

Intravenous (IV) medication administration errors can cause severe patient harm. In this systematic review, researchers identified eleven studies characterizing the systemic causes of in-hospital IV medication errors. Systemic errors were identified most frequently during medication administration, prescribing and preparation, with common errors involving knowledge gaps, calculation errors, failure to double-check, and confusion between look-alike, sound-alike medications.  More research focused on IV medication safety is needed.