Patients may be unaware of certain factors regarding prescription drugs they are taking.
When taken correctly, prescription drugs can improve a patient’s quality of life, and reduce their likelihood of experiencing serious adverse events related to a certain condition. However, when taken incorrectly, prescription drugs can pose significant harm.
While some medication errors can be relatively harmless, some have the potential to be fatal, such as combining an opioid with a sedative.
According to an article published by Mount Sinai Medical Center, the top 5 common mistakes patients make with their prescription drugs are as follows:
1. Lack of awareness of expiration dates
Although expiration dates are printed on the bottle or label, many patients do not pay attention to the date. When patients are unaware of when their medications expire, they may unknowingly put themselves at risk for experiencing problems related to safety or efficacy.
2. Taking the incorrect dosage
Remembering specific directions for a prescription drug may be relatively simple for 1 drug, but when more are added to a regimen, patients are at an increased risk of not taking the drugs as prescribed, according to the article. This may be especially prevalent among elderly patients who have numerous comorbidities that each require drug therapy.
3. Rate of usage
In light of the opioid epidemic, states are now creating various initiatives to prevent individuals from using prescription drugs at an inappropriate rate. Some patients with opioid misuse disorder may seek prescriptions from multiple physicians, or steal prescriptions from friends or family members.
4. What time of day to take the drug
Certain prescription drugs must be taken at a specific time of day to have the optimal effect. If the drugs are not taken at the designated time, it may not elicit the desired effect. For example, Mount Sinai reported that cholesterol-fighting drugs should be taken at night to combat increased cholesterol production during that time of day.
5. Combining drugs without physician guidance
Because many patients take vitamins, physicians should be informed of these supplements due to the potential for adverse events. Over the counter allergy and heartburn drugs tend to not react well with some prescription drugs, according to the article. Additionally, birth control pills may have interactions with some vitamins or antibiotics that results in a less effective contraceptive method.
FAQs
The most common causes of pharmacy-driven medication errors include workload, similar drug names, interruptions, lack of support staff, insufficient time to counsel patients, and illegible handwriting. Pharmacies should develop protocols to standardize internal processes and ensure: Delivery of the correct dosage.
What are 5 common causes of medication errors? ›
The most common causes of pharmacy-driven medication errors include workload, similar drug names, interruptions, lack of support staff, insufficient time to counsel patients, and illegible handwriting. Pharmacies should develop protocols to standardize internal processes and ensure: Delivery of the correct dosage.
What are the 3 most common drug related errors? ›
The three most common dispensing errors are: dispensing an incorrect medication, dosage strength or dosage form; miscalculating a dose; and failing to identify drug interactions or contraindications. Errors caused by drug administration can be made by the health care provider or by the patient themselves.
What are the five medication errors? ›
All it takes is one minor error in one of these five rules of medication administration to result in harm, such as:
- Giving the wrong type of medication to a patient.
- Prescribing a medication at the wrong time intervals.
- Dispensing the wrong medication dosage to a patient.
- Distributing medication to the wrong patient.
Wrong dose, missing doses, and wrong medication are the most commonly reported administration errors. Contributing factors to patient and caregiver error include low health literacy, poor provider–patient communication, absence of health literacy, and universal precautions in the outpatient clinic.
What are the common errors in prescriptions? ›
The 10 Most Common Prescription Errors
- Unclear or Illegible Prescriptions. ...
- Wrong Dosage or Quantity of Medication. ...
- Prescription of Drugs that Interact. ...
- Incorrect Sig Instructions. ...
- Rate of Usage. ...
- Errors in Diagnosis and Treatment Selection. ...
- Inaccurate Drug Name. ...
- Incorrect Prescription Format.
Common misuses that lead to adverse drug events are taking incorrect doses, taking doses at the wrong times, forgetting to take doses, or stopping the medication too soon (all nonadherence issues).
What medication has the most errors? ›
The most commonly cited drug in reports of wrong drug errors is OXYcodone with acetaminophen (Percocet®), which has been confused with HYDROcodone with acetaminophen (Vicodin®, Norco®), acetaminophen with codeine (Tylenol No.
What are the top five medications implicated in most medication errors in the hospital? ›
Administration errors
In 27% of these cases, the wrong dose was given, in 18%, the wrong drug was given, and in 15%, the wrong route of administration was used. ⁷ The most common medications implicated in these claims were; anticoagulants, antimicrobials, opioids, anticonvulsants, and antidepressants.
What are the 9 medication errors? ›
MEs were assigned to nine categories as shown in Table 2: 1) wrong dose, 2) wrong drug due to mix-up of drugs, 3) wrong patient due to mix-up of patients, 4) Omission 5) unauthorized drug, 6) wrong route, 7) wrong judgement or inadequate assessment of the patient's need for treatment, 8) wrong management or storage of ...
Most health care professionals, especially nurses, know the “five rights” of medication use: the right patient, the right drug, the right time, the right dose, and the right route—all of which are generally regarded as a standard for safe medication practices.
What are the most harmful medication errors? ›
The leading types of errors were dosing errors (38%), omissions (23%) and wrong drug (15%). The therapeutic areas most commonly involved were analgesics, antibacterials and antithrombotics. Over half of all errors were harmful (62%), of which 5.2% caused severe harm, and 0.8% were fatal.
What are the 7 rules of medication administration? ›
Follow the Seven Rights when you are administering medication to the individuals you support: Right Person, Right Medication, Right Dose, Right Time, Right Route, Right Reason, and Right Documentation.
What to do if the pharmacy gives wrong medication? ›
Seek Medical Attention: Your health is the priority. Consult a healthcare provider immediately. Preserve the Evidence: Keep the medication, packaging, and any related documents. Document Your Experience: Note down any symptoms or adverse effects you experienced.
What are the human factors of medication errors? ›
Emotional stress, lack of motivation, high workload, poor communication, and missed patient information on the information system, are examples of the human factors contributing to medication errors.
What happens to a nurse who makes a medication error? ›
There could be an investigation with interviews, or a disciplinary hearing, where you should be absolutely honest about what happened and the possible factors contributing to the error. A disciplinary hearing might end in recommendations for supervised practice for a period of time and/or retraining.
What are six types of medication errors? ›
Six main types of medication error can occur in the chain of pharmacological and pharmaceutical patient care: prescribing faults, prescription errors, transcription errors, dispensing errors, administration errors, and 'across settings' errors [1]. In this article we focus on dispensing errors.
Which is most likely a cause for medication errors? ›
The most likely causes of medical errors involving medication are prescribing errors where the patient receives the wrong dose or drug.
What is the most common cause of 70% of serious medical errors? ›
Communication Problems
Communication breakdowns are the most common causes of medical errors. Whether verbal or written, these issues can arise in a medical practice or a healthcare system and can occur between a physician, nurse, healthcare team member, or patient. Poor communication often results in medical errors.
What are the 4 major areas of concern related to medical errors? ›
Technical errors (44 percent) Diagnosis (17 percent) Failure to prevent injury (12 percent) Errors in the use of a drug (10 percent)
