Patient Safety: Drug Errors and Their Prevention

This week is Patient Safety Awareness week, so each day I've been highlighting touch points dangerous to patients, specifically where patients may have control over their own safety.

One of the most controllable aspects of our care is confirming the drugs we are prescribed, or even those we purchase over the counter.

Prescription drug errors affect at least 1.5 million Americans each year and perhaps as many as double that number. Some are fairly mild; they may cause only discomfort, or they are caught so early that they can be rectified. Others are deadly.

Too-similar drug names are one culprit. The FDA maintains a watch list of names that are too close such as Zyrtec and Zantac or Celebrex and Cerebyx. They may be mixed up by doctors or pharmacists, or anyone else along the dispensing line. And when you get that wrong named drug? You may have no idea unless you ask some questions.

All those abbreviations and acronyms used on written prescriptions are another culprit. When paired with a doctor's lousy handwriting, I suppose it's a miracle anyone gets the right drug.

USA Today created a wonderful illustration showing just where all those errors can take place.

Savvy patients know how to review any prescription they are given, with both the doctor, and with the pharmacist. Drug errors are preventable. Knowing all those ways they can happen will help us make sure we aren't victims of those errors.
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