Medication errors are among the most common medical errors, harming at least 1.5 million people every year, according to a 2006 Institute of Medicine report. An estimated 400,000 preventable drug-related injuries occur each year in hospitals, and another 800,000 occur in long-term-care settings. Among Medicare recipients alone, 530,000 medication errors -- from wrong dosage, wrong route of administration or wrong medication -- occur in outpatient clinics, according to the IOM report.
Add to that recent concerns raised over drugs being approved too quickly before market or lack of on-going drug monitoring after approval.
To that end, a new user-friendly Food and Drug Administration Web site, unveiled in October is aimed at helping consumers and health care professionals keep abreast of drug-safety information.
Since 1995, nearly one in four drugs in the category called biologics -- meaning they are derived from biological sources such as antibodies, enzymes or hormones -- have been given one or more safety warnings, according to the most recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Examples include: Remicade, used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and the digestive disease called Crohn's; the antibiotics Cipro and Levaquin; and a cancer drug called Avastin. Non-biologics such as antidepressants now carry serious warnings on the increased potential of suicide, particularly when starting the drug or with abrupt stoppage.
Between January 1995 and June 2008, 82 actions, including 19 "black box warnings" were issued by the FDA or European Union prescription drug authorities. A black box warning means the drug has been associated with serious side effects to the degree that the FDA is giving the drug its strongest warning, while still allowing the drug to remain on the market.
Most people depend on their pharmacist or doctor to worry about drug-safety issues. But many people, particularly older adults or individuals with serious, chronic health problems, have multiple doctors who prescribe multiple drugs. Does every doctor the patient sees know every drug and every dosage the patient is taking? A doctor seen more regularly may prescribe a new drug. Another doctor, seen less often, may not realize the new drug has been prescribed and order a medication that could have serious interactions with the previous drug. Some drugs taken together negate the positive effects each is to have.
Another study, published this year in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), examined medication errors reported by family physicians: 70 percent of errors were prescribing errors; 10 percent were medication administration errors, 10 percent were documentation errors, 7 percent were dispensing errors and 3 percent were monitoring errors.
More than 50 percent of the errors were not detected before reaching patients. Of the errors found before they reached patients, 40 percent were prevented by pharmacists, 5 percent prevented by nurses, 19 percent prevented by doctors and nearly that amount prevented by patients.
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Tips for safe medicating
Today's health consumer needs to be savvy about informing every health professional seen on what drugs are taken.
--Ask questions.
--Write down the names and dosages of each drug taken before going to the doctor or hospital.
--Don't assume the next doctor you see has received your medical records from the referring doctor.
--Pharmacists also make mistakes. To see more of The News-Sentinel, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.FortWayne.com. Copyright (c) 2008, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Ind. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2008, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Ind.