Patient Safety & Quality AssuranceQuestion 59 of 100
Insulin, heparin, warfarin, opioids and concentrated potassium chloride are all classified as high-alert medications. What does that classification mean?
a.Errors happen far more frequently with these drugs than with other medications
b.They are the most expensive products carried in the pharmacy
c.They may be dispensed only in unit-dose packaging
d.An error involving them is far more likely to cause severe or fatal harm, even though errors are not necessarily more frequent
Explanation
High-alert status is about the consequence of an error, not its frequency: these drugs have a narrow margin between a therapeutic dose and a lethal one, so a single mistake can kill. That is why they warrant an independent double check, physical separation, and standardized concentrations. Cost, packaging format and error frequency are not what put a drug on a high-alert list.
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