Reducing Prescription Medication Errors
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Unfortunately, fatalaties caused by improper prescription medication use are a reality. The consequence of incorrect administering has resulted in 7,000 deaths per year, in addition to thousands of hospitalizations. Since 1992, the FDA has examined thousands of reports of errors involving prescription drugs, all of which were preventable. The FDA has received over 95,000 reports since 2000.
These preventable errors can occur for a variety of reasons. Examples of cases that have resulted include a miscommunication of drug orders due to poor prescription handwriting, confusion between prescription drugs with similar names, and confusion regarding correct dosage amounts. According to the report, confusing labeling on both OTC and prescription drugs has led to patients misunderstanding dosage amounts and instructions, thus contributing in the number of fatalities.
The report further explains that up to a third of errors can be attributed to packaging and labeling. Similar packaging, same-sounding names, abbreviations and encoding numerals can all cause errors.
The FDA's Role in Preventing Prescription Medication Errors
The FDA’s role in preventing medication error is a significant one. One role of the FDA is to review a drug’s name to ensure it cannot be easily confused with other drug names on the market. It also regulates drug labels to ensure that a medication contains appropriate information. The FDA also regulates product packaging, and investigates the risks and causes of prescription medication errors, in an effort to curb the problem.
Since 2004, certain medications have also been labeled with bar code technology, to guarantee correct doses are administered to patients.
The FDA is committed to releasing a draft guidance by September 30th in order to reduce further fatalities attributed to prescription medication errors. If you have any further questions regarding pharmaceutical drugs, PrescriptionDrugs.com is the web's most comprehensive source for information.
