Five ways to avoid medication mistakes

[Guest guest]

Five ways to avoid medication mistakes

Institute of Medicine: Medication errors harm at least 1.5 million

people annually

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/11/29/ep.medication.mistakes/index.htm

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By Cohen

Dr. Albert Wu prevented a drug error with his wife, Sugg, when

she was expecting son Sam.

When Dr. Albert Wu's wife, Sugg, was pregnant with their first

child, Sugg developed hepatitis and meningitis and was hospitalized.

One evening while Wu was at the hospital taking care of his feverish

wife, a nurse came in the room to give Sugg her antibiotics.

Wu knew immediately that something was wrong.

The nurse's antibiotics were pills. He remembered that just a short

time before, another nurse had given his wife the exact same

antibiotics, but intravenously. He feared his wife was about to get

two doses of the same medicine.

" I told the nurse, and she said, 'Oh dear. We'll check that,' " says

Wu, a professor at s Hopkins School of Public Health. " Had I not

been there to intercept the error, she would have gotten both doses. "

Medication errors harm at least 1.5 million people every year,

according to the Institute of Medicine. In hospitals, there is at

least one medication error per patient per day, according to an IOM

report last year.

The newborn twins of actor Dennis Quaid were reportedly the victims

of medication errors earlier this month when they were given doses

of a blood thinner that was 1,000 times stronger than what was

prescribed.

Outside the hospital, the situation is not as clear. But the IOM

report says roughly 530,000 medication errors occur among Medicare

recipients in outpatient clinics -- and that this is most likely an

underestimate.

" The numbers really are staggering, " says Wu, who helped write the

IOM report. " Medication errors happen every day. "

Wu says his experience with his wife shows patients really can

prevent some -- but not all -- medication errors. Here from him and

other experts are tips for avoiding medication errors.

1. Get in your doctor's face

The first step to preventing medication errors is to know exactly

what your doctor is prescribing, how often you should take it, and

at what dosage. Don't walk out of the doctor's office confused. " If

you don't understand something, you should ask, " says Wu. " This may

seem like you're getting your doctor annoyed with you, but we

doctors should get used to it. "

Also, when your doctor writes a prescription, make sure you can read

it. " If you can't read the doctor's handwriting, your pharmacist

might not be able to either, " according to a list of tips from the

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. " Ask the doctor to use

block letters to print the name of the drug. "

2. Get in your pharmacist's face

At the pharmacy, don't just take the prescription and walk away.

Check the name, make sure it's what you were prescribed, and show

the medicine to the pharmacist to double check you have the right

one.

3. In the hospital, get your meds in writing

Ask for a list of all the medications you're supposed to be given,

what they look like, and when you should get them. Then, when a

nurse comes around to give you your medications, you know if they

have it right, says Hedy Cohen, vice president of the Institute for

Safe Medication Practices.

4. Make sure this is really YOUR medicine

Especially if your name is " " or " . " " I personally saw a

mom say to a nurse, 'Hey, the IV bag you're about to give my son has

another child's name on it,' " Cohen says. She recommends showing

the nurse your ID bracelet every time you're given a medicine.

Of course, it can be tough to notice mistakes when you're sick.

That's why researchers who specialize in medical errors say it's

very important to have someone with you in the hospital.

5. Get dramatic if you have to

Wu says when his friend's daughter was in the hospital, his friend

realized a nurse was about to administer the wrong medicine. When

Wu's friend told her this was not the medication the doctor had

ordered, the nurse didn't believe him. " He threw himself across the

bed until they realized the medication was for the next patient, " Wu

says.

A stern verbal request might work, too. " You could say, 'Just to be

safe, could you please check with the doctor,' " Wu says. " Say, 'I

don't want anything bad to happen, so please check.' "