Medication administration is commonly the responsibility of medical assistants (MAs) in many California medical offices and clinic settings. While MAs play a vital role in carrying out a variety of routine tasks that keep your office running smoothly, they may also represent an underappreciated source of risk for your practice. Unfortunately, many physicians fail to understand that MAs are unlicensed individuals with limited, if any, formal education in pharmacology and safe medication administration.
In fact, a recent focused review by CAP Risk Management and Patient Safety staff reveals that medication errors, where an MA was directly responsible for a patient’s injury, accounted for the most frequent cause of loss in indemnity.
Medication Errors - 49%
Failure to Monitor - 25%
Office System Errors - 12%
Improper Performance - 7%
Scope of Practice - 5%
Misconduct - 2%