This issue includes items on COVID-19, medication safety, community pharmacy, paediatric mediation errors, mental health, healthcare associated infections and more.

Also covered are the latest issues of the Australian Journal of Primary Health Review, Patient Experience Journal and Pediatric Quality & Safety along with the latest online papers from BMJ Quality & Safety and International Journal for Quality in Health Care and the latest from the UK’s NICE and the USA’s AHRQ.

Scanning medication administration systems are likely to reduce medication administration error rates, however much of the supporting evidence is of weak quality relying on uncontrolled before-after studies.

The benefits of electronic prescribing systems include improving access to health information and automated prompts and alerts to support clinical decision making. This evidence briefing aims to find out if these system improvements lead to improved patient safety. 

To date there have been relatively few comprehensive evaluations of closed-loop medication systems and their effects. This evidence briefing aims to find out if closed-loop medication management systems reduce dispensing and medication administration errors and improve efficiency.

There are a number of benefits to the use of electronic medication administration records, including potential improvements in the efficiency of the medication administration process, resulting in better medication management for patients. However, electronic medication administration record implementation is complex, can be costly, and may cause significant changes to workflow and introduce new errors unique to the system.

Interruptions can be a source of error during the preparation and administration of medications, and more recently interruptions have been shown to be associated with prescribing errors. This evidence briefing aims to find out if there are effective interventions to reduce interruptions during medication prescribing, preparation, and administration.