Approximately 450,000 hospital patients in the United States sustain adverse drug reactions annually due to medication errors made by hospital staff.
Earlier this year, the New Jersey Hospital Association announced that there was much to celebrate during New Jersey’s annual Patient Safety Awareness Week. According to the Association, New Jersey hospitals are continuing to make great strides in lowering the number of hospital medication errors. While this is certainly welcome news, medication errors unfortunately remain a significant problem in New Jersey and nationally. A medication error can be broadly defined as a mistake in the process of treating a patient with a medicinal drug that poses a risk of harm to the patient.
Stunningly, the Institute of Medicine observes that hospital patients can be expected to be subjected to more than one medication error daily. Medication errors can cause what are known as “adverse drug events” which can injure or kill a patient. One study estimates that at least 450,000 adverse drug events occur each year. The medication process consists of procuring the medicine, obtaining a prescription, dispensing it, its administration, and, finally, monitoring its effect. While medication errors can and do occur during each of these steps, most errors tend to occur during the prescribing and administering stages.
During the prescribing stage, an error can result from bad handwriting, confusion between drugs with similar names or poor labeling. During the administering stage, a nurse may err by giving a patient the wrong drug or the wrong dosage of the right drug. Either error can result in injury or death. National Public Radio recently reported that some hospitals are being proactive by having a pharmacist present in hospital emergency rooms at all times in order to make sure that medications ordered by busy doctors are the correct medications and correct dosages.
Another significant problem posed by medications results from unintentional misuse. According to a story published in USA Today, hundreds of thousands of America’s seniors are inadvertently misusing medications. In far too many situations, physicians are quick to prescribe potent pain medications for seniors but then fail to follow-up and monitor the patients to determine: (1) if they are becoming addicted to the drugs; and (2) whether they might be showing symptoms of dangerous drug side effects.
Safety tips
To lower the chances of your suffering the effects of medication errors, the American Geriatric Society’s Foundation for Health in Aging recommends the following safety precautions:
- Ask your doctor whether an over the counter drug may have side effects if taken with your prescription medications.
- Make a list of all of your medications-and the dosages-and share them with your healthcare provider and pharmacist. Carry this list with you at all times so that it is available in the event of a medical emergency.
- Have your primary care physician review your medications annually.
- When prescribed a new drug, ask your physician and your pharmacist questions about whether there could be side effects and, if so, what signs and symptoms you need to watch out for.
- Read the label on the bottle to make sure that the pharmacist has given you the right dosage of the right medication.
Suing for damages
If you believe that you or a loved one has been injured due to medication errors, you should contact a New Jersey attorney specializing in medical malpractice cases as soon as possible. Medical malpractice cases, especially those involving prescription drugs, can be complicated. An attorney can investigate the circumstances and help you hold accountable healthcare providers who over-prescribe medications, prescribe the wrong medication or administer the wrong dosage.
