Reduce Medication Errors
Running head: Preventing Medication Errors
Preventing Medication Errors:
Safe Medication Use is Achievable and Affordable
Chareese W. Brown
DePaul University
HTHC 523-201: Winter 2012
January 17, 2012
Almost everyone will take prescription and non-prescription medication. It is estimated that 82% of United States (U.S.) adults will use prescription medicines, over-the-counter remedies, and/or dietary/herbal supplements. Nearly one-third will use five or more different medications (citation). Most of the times these medications are advantageous, however on occasion can cause an adverse drug event (ADE) to the person taking them. ADEs are a serious public health problem. An ADE is an injury caused by the use of a drug. The injury can result from an adverse drug reaction or overdose. It can also be caused by the use of the drug from a dose reduction or discontinuation of drug therapy (citation). Given the number of medications taken, medication-related injuries may appear unavoidable. However, ADEs due to errors in prescribing, distributing, and administering are preventable (IOM, 2006).
Research on the cost and causes of ADEs has been reported for years in medical literature. A publication by the Institute of Medicine (IOM): To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System brought public attention to the issue of medication errors. The report identified a quality problem in the U.S. health system as a contributing factor. The decentralized and disintegrated nature of the U.S. health system is challenged with opportunities for mistakes to occur. Under these circumstances, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requested that the IOM study the frequency of preventable medication errors and formulate a national agenda for reducing these errors. The resulting report, Preventing Medication Errors, found that they are quite common and costly.
In hospitals, medication errors are common during every step of the process from procuring and
Preventing Medication Errors:
Safe Medication Use is Achievable and Affordable
Chareese W. Brown
DePaul University
HTHC 523-201: Winter 2012
January 17, 2012
Almost everyone will take prescription and non-prescription medication. It is estimated that 82% of United States (U.S.) adults will use prescription medicines, over-the-counter remedies, and/or dietary/herbal supplements. Nearly one-third will use five or more different medications (citation). Most of the times these medications are advantageous, however on occasion can cause an adverse drug event (ADE) to the person taking them. ADEs are a serious public health problem. An ADE is an injury caused by the use of a drug. The injury can result from an adverse drug reaction or overdose. It can also be caused by the use of the drug from a dose reduction or discontinuation of drug therapy (citation). Given the number of medications taken, medication-related injuries may appear unavoidable. However, ADEs due to errors in prescribing, distributing, and administering are preventable (IOM, 2006).
Research on the cost and causes of ADEs has been reported for years in medical literature. A publication by the Institute of Medicine (IOM): To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System brought public attention to the issue of medication errors. The report identified a quality problem in the U.S. health system as a contributing factor. The decentralized and disintegrated nature of the U.S. health system is challenged with opportunities for mistakes to occur. Under these circumstances, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requested that the IOM study the frequency of preventable medication errors and formulate a national agenda for reducing these errors. The resulting report, Preventing Medication Errors, found that they are quite common and costly.
In hospitals, medication errors are common during every step of the process from procuring and