By: George Van Antwerp

George Van Antwerp — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:51:53 +0000

There is a good follow-up article on this which a friend sent me.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=arOYnPQYgNeM

“It’s not just health professionals, but also patients and caregivers who get mixed up,” said Cousins. “Sometimes it happens when patients give their drug history to a doctor and mispronounce a complicated drug name, so the doctor hears something else.”

The agency [Pharmacopeia] received 26,000 reports of drug mix-ups from 2003 to 2006, involving 1,470 different drugs. In 1.4 percent of the cases the patient was harmed, including seven instances that may have caused the person’s death.

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 23:14:31 +0000

As an RN, knowing the importance of checking a medication before administration has been drilled into my knowledge base. The five R’s: The Right medication, the Right dose, the Right time, the Right route, and most important, the Right patient. I do believe we ALL need to take a piece of responsibility for receiving and taking our own medications.Since we have moved into the era of E-Chart many medication errors have diminished. There is, however, still the human component. We do and will make mistakes.
Using the ICD-9 code will help to decrease many. Then again, who knows what the Doc is ordering a specific drug for unless we ask. Always, always ask. And always check the label of the bottle a little sooner that after 2 days use of a medication.
Can our elderly do this efficiently? Not always. Pharmacies should use large print on all labels and question the senior prior to departure. Do they understand, can they read the bottle and do they know what it is for.
If we can barely keep ourselves safe with medications, how do keep or elders safe?

Comments on: Diagnosis Code Plus Rx

By: George Van Antwerp

By: Jeanne