CAN YOU PROTECT YOURSELF?

Did you know that as many as 98,000 people die in any given year from avoidable medical errors that occur in hospitals. [National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention ("NCCMERP")] Experts say that medical errors are the eighth leading cause of death in the United States. Of these avoidable medical errors, medication errors are one of the most common medical errors, killing an estimated 7,000 people each year, harming at least 1.5 million people every year, and costing the healthcare system between $77 billion and $177 billion annually [April 27, 2009, Archives of Internal Medicine]. When you add the financial cost to the human tragedy, you can see how medication error easily rises to the top ranks of urgent, widespread public problems.

It is the responsibility of the hospital and healthcare staff to order and dispense the right medications, every day, every time, to every patient. The sad truth is that this does not happen. A patient should not have to worry whether they are being given the right medication at the right time because that job is the responsibility of the hospital and trained healthcare personnel.

However, even though it is the hospital's responsibility to be sure you or your loved ones receive the correct medication, there are some things you can do. To learn more about different types of medication errors and ways you may be able to help protect yourself or your loved ones, read the following information on medication errors. Our goal is to provide you with information you can use for yourself and your family.

"Medication Error" defined. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") calls a "medication error" any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or harm to a patient while the medication is in the control of the healthcare professional, patient, or consumer. These are preventable mistakes in prescribing and delivering medication.

How Come Medication Errors Occur? Medication errors occur for a variety of reasons: sloppy professional practice in dispensing and administering, mis-communicating a drug order, language issues, poor handwriting, confusion between drugs with similar names, mistakes in dosage, human error, and the like. And while patients should be able to rely 100% on the healthcare system, that is just not the case. Statistics show that healthcare personnel and hospitals do not do it right. So, the better informed you are about medication errors, the better chance you have to be educated for yourself and your loved ones.

Common Types of Medication Errors. Medication errors can occur at any point in the healthcare delivery system. The American Hospital Association ("AHA") estimates that on average a typical hospital patient is subject to one medication error per day but this varies from hospital to hospital. Following are some common types of medication errors:

-physician's lack of knowledge about the drug or about the patient for whom it was prescribed

-incomplete patient information (allergies, other medications, previous diagnoses, and lab results, for example)


-gaps in the healthcare professional's knowledge base about medications

-mis-communicating drug orders because of poor handwriting, confusion between drugs with similar names, misuse of zeroes and decimal points, confusion of  metric and other dosing units, and inappropriate abbreviations


-environmental factors, such as lighting, heat, noise, and other interruptions that can distract healthcare professionals from their medical tasks

Hospital Watchdog: The Joint Commission. The Joint Commission is an independent, not-for-profit organization that evaluates and accredits hospitals and other healthcare programs in the United States to see how well a hospital complies with set standards and earn accreditation. To earn and maintain the Joint Commission's Gold Seal of Approval, an organization must undergo an on-site team survey at least every three years. An accredited hospital is recognized as being a quality facility committed to meeting certain performance standards.

As of January 1, 2004, the Joint Commission began surveying healthcare organizations using new Medication Management ("MM") standards designed to improve the safety and quality of medication management. The MM standards are among the most rigorous and challenging for a hospital to implement. All stages of the hospital's medication use process - selection, storage, ordering, dispensing, administration, and monitoring - must be appropriately integrated into a comprehensive MM system.

If a Joint Commission survey finds that a hospital is not in compliance with a standard, the hospital receives a Requirement for Improvement ("RFI"). To avoid losing Joint Commission accreditation, the hospital must immediately address any RFI and submit evidence of standard compliance within 45 days. Hospitals are most likely to receive an RFI because of noncompliance with MM standards in three areas: medication storage, medication orders, and pharmacist review of orders. It pays to know your hospital's track record.