Paramedics Believe Verbal Verification with a Team Mate Reduces Medication Errors More than Mental Verification Alone

Verification is an essential process for reducing errors in all aspects of medicine. Formal verification processes exist in the hospital setting, but have not been created for the out-of hospital setting. Paramedics are taught to use the five rights method of medication verification, most commonly as a one-person mental process, although its efficacy in preventing error has never been evaluated or quantified in any setting. This study surveyed practicing paramedics’ methods of verification, perceptions of efficacy, and self-reporting of known medication errors to determine if there is a relationship between verification method and self-reported errors.