Medication Errors

Medication errors were a really hot topic when I was in residency back in 1999-2000. They still are. It’s no secret that mistakes have killed people. Here is an article on MSNBC.

A lot of this stuff could be prevented if we health-care professionals could just slow down. The prescription is often hurriedly communicated or written. I once received a prescription that didn’t even have the name of a drug on it. Many retail establishments expect the pharmacist to fill some outrageous number of prescriptions per day, all the while he/she has to deal with insurance companies that won’t cooperate and some patients whose behavioral skills are below the standards of civilization. I’m sure that nurses who administer medications have similar pressures on them.

As for the morphine overdose mentioned in the article, it could have been prevented if the doctor had prescribed Lomotil or Immodium instead of “opium tincture, camphorated.”