MEDMARX® Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is MEDMARX and why is it unique?

A. MEDMARX is an anonymous, Internet-accessible, standardized program used by healthcare facilities nationwide to report and track medication errors and adverse drug reactions. Data from participating healthcare facilities is stored in a central database at USP for educational and research purposes. Through the MEDMARX Multi-Facility Module, a participating healthcare system can view data submitted by another facility within its health system. A participating institution also can compare its own medication error data with that of other systems. This sharing of knowledge and experience is the most unique aspect of MEDMARX.

Q. What type of data does MEDMARX collect?

A. MEDMARX collects information on medication errors, such as error types, causes, locations within a health care facility, level of staff involved, products, and contributing factors to the error. The data reflects errors that have reached the patient, errors that were intercepted, and potential errors. Additionally, the adverse drug reaction (ADR) module provides a tool for MEDMARX subscribers to collect and analyze adverse drug reactions seamlessly with medication errors. The ADR module collects description of reaction, body system involved, seriousness criteria, result of reaction on patient level of care, and includes the Naranjo probability assessment scale to determine the likelihood that a medication resulted in the adverse reaction.

Q. How do healthcare facilities benefit from the MEDMARX program?

A. MEDMARX can help healthcare facilities reduce and prevent adverse drug events and their related costs due to patient injury, further hospitalization, and treatment. MEDMARX also allows facilities to view adverse events experienced by institutions similar to themselves in bedsize and type so that they can learn from mistakes and approaches taken by other healthcare facilities across the nation. In addition, MEDMARX supports a non-punitive systems-based approach that focuses on the medication use process and its systems and technologies, and not on the individual.

Q. How does MEDMARX assist hospitals in meeting The Joint Commission standards and National Patient Safety Goals?

A. The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits nearly 18,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. The The Joint Commission Patient Safety Standards, which were instituted in July 2001, support the "sharing of knowledge to effect behavioral changes in itself [the hospital] and other health care organizations to improve patient safety." This language supports the core principle of MEDMARX, which is to share experiences so that others can learn from them. There are several specific areas in which MEDMARX supports The Joint Commission's Patient Safety Standards, including:

  • MEDMARX is constructed to be an interdisciplinary tool that allows input, retrieval, and search by various levels of staff;
  • MEDMARX captures errors that reach the patient and may or may not cause harm; errors that occur but are intercepted by another health care professional; and situations that have the capacity to cause error
  • MEDMARX captures information relative to "actions taken"; and
  • MEDMARX supports external reporting and thorough analysis of errors by providing, as a tool, the The Joint Commission Framework for Conducting a Root Cause Analysis.

Q. How will patients benefit from the MEDMARX program?

A. Patients can feel reassured that facilities using MEDMARX are able to thoroughly analyze the causes of errors, identify any recurring themes, and potentially avert serious events. Patients can ultimately benefit from the improved quality of care provided by institutions that use MEDMARX as a performance improvement tool.

Q. How does MEDMARX categorize errors?

A. MEDMARX uses the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCC MERP) Error Outcome Category Index. The index categorizes errors from potential errors (Category A) to harmful errors and death (Category I). The index considers factors such as whether the error reached the patient and, if the patient was harmed, to what degree.

  NCC MERP Error Outcome Category Index
Category Description
Category A Circumstances or events that have the capacity to cause error.
Category B An error occurred, but the error did not reach the patient.
Category C An error occurred that reached the patient, but did not cause patient harm.
Category D An error occurred that reached the patient and required monitoring to confirm that it resulted in no harm to the patient, and/or required intervention to preclude harm.
Category E An error occurred that may have contributed to or resulted in temporary harm to the patient and required intervention.
Category F An error occurred that may have contributed to or resulted in temporary harm to the patient and required initial or prolonged hospitalization.
Category G An error occurred that may have contributed to or resulted in permanent patient harm.
Category H An error occurred that required intervention necessary to sustain life.
Category I An error occurred that may have contributed to or resulted in the patient's death.

Q. Who has access to the data?

A. Each participating MEDMARX facility has the ability to access its own MEDMARX data. The facility's MEDMARX administrator can assign various levels of access for staff including the capability to enter, search, update, and release records. Anonymity is preserved because institutions access MEDMARX through a random, system-generated, confidential facility identification number. Although participating healthcare centers can view the records of other participating facilities, the unique facility ID prevents other hospitals and USP from knowing which specific facility is submitting data.

Q. How does MEDMARX work with risk management systems and other reporting systems?

A. The MEDMARX Data Interface (MDI) offers a fast and easy way to upload medication error information from other reporting and risk management systems eliminating the need to re-enter the data manually. Medication error information is exported as an ASCII file for automatic record integration.