Cost comparison of unit dose and traditional drug distribution in a long-term-care facility

The influence of formulation and medicine delivery system on medication administration errors in care homes for older people

“…In addition, checking the accuracy of MDS is tedious and for some systems can be difficult because of the problem of identifying multiple tablets and capsules dispensed into a single compartment. However, MDS appear to reduce the time spent on the drug round 8 9…”

“…Two before and after studies in the mid-1980s (one in the USA, one in the UK), conducted in single long-term care facilities, reported a reduction in medication administration errors following the introduction of MDS 8 9…”

National Study on the Frequency, Types, Causes, and Consequences of Voluntarily Reported Emergency Department Medication Errors

“…Computerized support, standardized treatment protocols, and unit dosing may potentially limit these types of errors. Prior research has supported the use of unit dosing to be cost effective and error preventing (17)(18)(19). Efforts with medication reconciliation are already underway to reduce omission and unauthorized drug administrations (20).…”

Medication dispensing errors in a French military hospital pharmacy

“…An appropriate dispensing system is an important tool for the prevention and reduction of medication errors by minimizing dispensing error opportunities in a pharmacy. In 1960, North-American hospital pharmacists developed the unit dose system, aiming to reduce medication error rates, drug costs, losses and thefts, and to improve the productivity of health professionals and the quality of health care [8][9][10].…”