... inpatient drug errors can cost the NHS £410 million per year. This figure does not include litigation costs which are thought to be conservative at £750 million per year (National Patient Safety Agency, 2007). To ascertain what the standards should be for the clinical audit the author first looked at current guidelines and policy from varying sources and then applied them to her area of clinical practice. To keep the audit manageable, the administration of regular drugs was chosen as the area to be audited and only drugs give orally was monitored. The administration of controlled drugs or 'as required' drugs was not observed. Different criteria would have had to have been observed if taking in to account various routes of administration and whether the drug was controlled or not. The author chose to break down the process of regular, oral drug administration in to 5 areas and looked at relevant ...

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