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- WARNING! One Out of Five Doses of Medications Given In Hospitals is Wrong
Medication errors cause 7,000 deaths each year and the frightening truth is that 1 out of every 5 doses of medication given in hospitals is wrong according to the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy’s Control in Managed Care Pharmacy (Medication errors)
The annual cost of drug-related morbidity and mortality is nearly $177 billion in the United States and there is at least one death per day and 1.3 million people are injured each year due to medication errors according to the Food & Drug Administration (FDA).
Protect yourself. Check the label and ask questions. Even in the hospital ask to speak to a pharmacist. They know more than the nurses and M.D.'s about the drugs. The doctors and nurses are overworked and make many mistakes through oversight and poor communications among themselves and between shifts at the hospital.
Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons - Most Common Medication Errors
We all know that making an error in the medication a patient takes can be serious. The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCC MERP) is an organization that attempts to warn patients about these risks.
The NCC MERP defines a medication error as "any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care professional, patient, or consumer...related to professional practice, health care products, procedures, and systems, including prescribing; order communication; product labeling, packaging, and nomenclature; compounding; dispensing; distribution; administration; education; monitoring; and use." The NCC MERP estimates that 1.3 million Americans were injured by medication errors in 2006.
According to MedicineNet the FDA and other independent organizations are consumer watchdogs for problems with drug errors:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) currently reviews medication error reports that come from drug manufacturers and through MedWatch, the agency's safety information and adverse event reporting program. The agency also receives reports about medication errors from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) and the U.S. Pharmacopeia.You can report drug errors and you can also educate yourself about what to do to protect yourself, your family and your friends.
The FDA studied reports of fatal medication errors for the years 1993 and 1998 and concluded that the most common form of error leading to death was improper dose (41% of fatal errors). The study also found that 16% of the fatal errors involved taking the wrong drug and 16% of the deaths were due to the wrong route of administration. Approximately half of the deaths occurred in people over 60. Older people tend to take more medications, thus increasing the risk of error.
The most common drugs that are involved in fatal errors. In 2006 here is the Top 10 List from MedicineNet:
Top 10Drugs: The Most Common Medication Errors Related Articles- acetaminophen
- amoxicillin
- Chemotherapy
- citalopram
- hydroxyzine
- ibuprofen
- methylprednisolone
- metronidazole
- naproxen
- prednisone
What can you do? Ask the pharmacist is by far the best source of information. They usually know a lot more about the medications being taken than the doctors or nurses. Secondly, read the bottle and also read the label. Check the dose on the bottle! Use the buddy system. Ask a friend or family member to double-check what you are taking. Don't drink alcohol and take ibuprofen (acetamenophen)! acetamenophen can cause liver failure and death.
Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons - U.S. House Report Further Confirms Bush Administration's Preemption Plot
Hot topic these days is pre-emption. Think of it as complete immunity for drug companies. The american association of Justice (AAJ) just released some blockbuster news about a Bush Administration plot. There press release follows:
Yesterday the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform issued a report saying FDA career staff objected to a change in preemption rules, even saying the central factual justifications for the agency’s new positions were false. The report highlights internal FDA documents which show high-ranking career officials repeatedly warning about the dangers of not allowing drug companies to add additional warnings to their labels without FDA approval. Prior to this the FDA had asserted through a rule on drug and device labeling that manufacturers should not be held accountable for failing to update their label with additional risks, if the original label was approved by the FDA.
The House report cites Dr. John Jenkins, the highest official in FDA’s new drug review process, writing:
[M]uch of the argument for why we are proposing to invoke preemption seems to be based on the false assumption that the FDA approved labeling is fully accurate and up-to-date in a real time basis. We know that such an assumption is false.”
Prior to the rule being issued one FDA career official asserted that the rule “is not as it purports to be, consistent with the agency’s role in protecting the public health…”
A copy of the report can be found at http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20081029102934.pdf .
The Associated Press story on the issue is also informative. You can read it at: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h1C2M6_6XJkirIrtYpwjP_02a2pAD944G96G3
Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons