Medication errors are issues that can seriously harm patients. For this reason, medical personnel who handle medications and administer it to patients must ensure that they are doing things properly so that they don’t harm patients. There are some medication errors that occur more than others, so patients and medical staff members should know about these so that they can avoid them.
The most common medication error is giving the patient the incorrect dose of the medication. This error accounts for 41 percent of the fatal medication errors. Next on the list, which account for 16 percent of fatal errors each, are giving the incorrect medication and giving the medication via the wrong method. In all of these cases, verifying the medication orders can help to prevent errors.
Patients can also play a part in ensuring they get the correct medications. They can check each medication individually and ask questions about why they are getting the medication and take the time to make sure things are correct. Taking a few extra minutes, especially if you have multiple medications, can help you to ensure that you aren’t going to face serious issues because of medication errors.
When medication errors turn serious, you might face more medical interventions, prolonged medical care and other similar troubles. All of these can cost you money and time. You may have to take time off of work to get back to your old self. When this occurs, you might decide that you are going to seek compensation for the damages. This can help you to get back some of the money you had to spend because of the incident.
Source: MedicineNet, “The Most Common Medication Errors,” Melissa Conrad Stoppler, MD, accessed March 30, 2017
