Revealed: NHS fails to curb lethal painkiller errors

A recent article by The Guardian points to worrying levels of avoidable patient harm in the NHS, involving strong pain killing drugs. Perhaps more alarming is the fact that some Trusts are failing to act on safety advice to reduce these errors. The article does not go as far as to link specific cases of patient harm with evidence this could have been avoided if specific points of advice had not been ignored.

It seems that human error is here to stay but its likelihood can be increased and decreased.

Left-handers vulnerable to Opticlick error

This video shows an insulin injection pen which has the potential to be read wrongly by left-handed people. The affordances of holding the pen mean it may be read upside down by left-handers, e.g. 25 for some and 52 for others. Be nice if this was considered before it went to market. Is this reasonable, who should have considered it, and what lessons have been learned for future devices?

How to set-up an infusion pump

These videos were found on the net demonstrating how to set-up different sorts of infusion pumps:

Alaris

Baxter

Plum

These are a great overview for the set-up of infusion pumps, looking at their general interaction, and noticing the tricks and checks that the nurses use for this device. If you have a look at them please share what you find interesting about their interaction in this thread, i.e. ergonomics, user experience, errors, the nurses' strategies.