While they seldom make headlines, dietary errors and hazardous antiseptic products are a significant threat to patient safety, according to an article on the Fierce Healthcare website
Between January 2009 and June 2014, the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority identified 285 dietary errors in healthcare facilities, eight of which resulted in serious patient harm, the article said.
The most common errors were:
• Serving patients food to which they were allergic
• Giving patients food meant for other other patients
• Serving food to patients, such as preoperative patients, who were not to receive food by mouth
Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration recently issued a proposed rule on the safety of over-the-counter antiseptics used in healthcare environments.