Medication safety remains a major patient safety issue in healthcare facilities. Despite protocols, checklists, and computerized systems, medication errors persist and continue to cause serious adverse events, which are often preventable.

Recent work on human factors applied to the medication circuit shows that these errors are not primarily related to a lack of individual skills, but to the complexity of the healthcare system: interruptions, time pressure, multitasking, poor communication, poorly designed interfaces, and the accumulation of fragile safety barriers.

The drug supply chain: a high-risk system, but one that can be controlled

Prescription, dispensing, preparation, administration, monitoring:
the medication pathway is based on a series of interdependent steps involving doctors, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, nurses, and nursing assistants.

Human factors studies remind us of a key principle:
👉 the more complex the system, the more it must be designed to be robust against human error.

This involves, in particular:

• multiple and complementary safety barriers;
• intelligent standardization (labeling, readability rules, 5B rules);
• a culture of error reporting and analysis (REMED, CREX);
• team training focused on real-life situations, not just theoretical procedures.

Moving from a culture of blame to a culture of medication safety

Modern approaches to patient safety emphasize a change in attitude:
medication errors are not individual failures, but symptoms of a system that can be improved.

Train professionals in:

• identify risky situations,
• intercept errors before they reach the patient,
• Collectively analyzing events,
  is now recognized as a major lever for risk reduction.

Training in the drug cycle: a concrete and operational lever

This is the rationale behind the SafeTeam Academy's training course "Being a key player in medication safety – The medication pathway" (P38).

This training course offers a pragmatic and immersive approach, directly aligned with HAS recommendations, and enables participants to:

• control the entire drug circuit in healthcare facilities;
• understand the mechanisms of medication errors;
• deploy the appropriate safety barriers at each stage;
• develop a shared culture of medication safety within teams.

Thanks to video simulation, real-life scenarios, educational games (dose calculation, reading traps, ALARM analysis of an adverse event), and a group debriefing with a human factors expert, learners don't just learn the rules:
👉 they practice making their real-life practices safer.

Drug safety and HAS certification: a strategic issue

Control of the drug circuit is directly linked to HAS certification requirements, particularly in terms of:

• prevention of adverse events associated with healthcare,
• error analysis,
• multidisciplinary teamwork,
• involvement of professionals in patient safety.

Training teams with immersive, validated teaching tools is now a strategic investment, both in terms of quality of care, reduction of medical-legal risks, and sustainable improvement in medication safety.

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