Teaching tips: do your CATS PRrr?: a mnemonic device to teach safety checks for administering intravenous medications

Reasons for errors in medication administration are complex, and healthcare facilities are on a constant vigil to find ways to reduce medication errors and subsequent harm to patients. Hepler and Segal (2003) discuss the idea of medication errors as a result of system failure. The authors describe a system as "a set of interdependent elements interacting to achieve a common aim" (Hepler & Segal, 2003, p. 49), and agree that elements of systems may include individuals, equipment, and techniques. Nurses, pharmacists, physicians, other healthcare providers, and the patients themselves are all involved in this system. The mnemonic device described in this column can help to improve the safety of nurses' practice by assisting them to remember the many facets of safe techniques for IV medication preparation, administration, and use of the various IV pumps.