The guideline “ Consensus guidelines for the safe prescription and administration of oral bowel-cleansing agents ” covers the choice, administration and complications (relative and absolute) of the different oral bowel-cleansing agents, with specific guidance provided for different patient groups. Oral bowel-cleansing preparations are used before colonic surgery and endoscopic and radiological assessment of large and small intestine to minimise faecal contamination. In general, these preparations are safe and well tolerated.
Six per cent of the 218 patient safety incidents resulted in moderate harm and one patient death was reported. These data are derived from a voluntary reporting system and, as such, are subject to bias: a proportion of incidents will not be reported, and those that are reported may underestimate severity. The majority of these incidents were reported as relating to…
