The Life You Save May Be Your Own

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requested that the Institute of Medicine analyze the prevalence of medication errors. As a result of their analysis, they formulated an agenda for reducing medication errors. Studies have found that adverse drug events occurs in hospitals between 380,000-450,000 times each year. The committee charged with the responsibility of investigating this believes that these estimates are on the low end. Nevertheless that means that on average a hospital patient can expect to be subjected to more than one medication error each day! When analyzing long term care facilities, it was determined that 800,000 adverse drug events occur each year. Yet another study that examined outpatient Medicare patients found 530,000 adverse drug events each year.

These medication errors are costly to patients, families, employers, hospitals, health-care providers and insurance companies. Some studies have suggested that each adverse drug event that takes place in a hospital adds about $8,750 to the cost of the hospital stay. Using the previous estimate that 400,000 adverse drug events occur each year then the total cost equates to $3.5 billion dollars yearly. The cost to those Medicare patients discussed earlier could be $887 million dollars. These estimates are also likely on the low side when one considers such factors as additional time off of work and potential life long effects of medication errors. The study did not report on how many of the injuries are serious, or how many patients die. A 1999 study reported that a conservative estimate of the number of deaths each year is 7,000.

Efforts to reduce medication errors is no small task. There are more than 10,000 prescription drugs on the market and over 300,000 over the counter medications. Four out of every five adults takes at least one medication or dietary supplement each day. Likely for this very reason, the first step outlined in the study to decrease the incidence of adverse drug effects is to encourage patients to take a more active role in their medical care. Healthcare providers are strongly encouraged to more actively involve their patients in their healthcare decisions. More specifically to outline for them the risks, contraindications and side effects of the medications that are prescribed.

Another step outlined extensively in the report is for practitioners to make greater use of information technologies in prescribing and dispensing medications. First, in order to keep up with the latest information available on all of the medication they might prescribe. Secondly, to mandate that healthcare practitioners use electronic prescription programs for all of their patients. The use of e-prescriptions can virtually eliminate the mistakes caused by handwritten prescriptions. Another advantage will be the ability to check the prescription with a patient’s medical history, decreasing those adverse events that are caused by drug to drug interaction.

The prevalence and call for action as it related to adverse medication errors is a hot topic in the healthcare industry right now. For further information on this topic, please contact us to set educational presentation.

For those involved in litigation surrounding the issue of adverse medication errors Medical Jurisprudence can provide a number of consulting services tailored to meet your firm’s specific needs (plaintiff or defense):

• Identification and research of those medications involved in the incident in question
• Identification of potential adverse effects of being given the wrong medication, not being given the correct medication, drug to drug interaction, being given the incorrect dose of the correct medication
• Standard of Care Research and Identification of Potential deviations
• Identification and Location of Expert Witnesses
• Medical Chronology Reports
• Screen case for merit

Reference:
Preventing Medication Errors. Institute of Medicine Report Brief 2006 Retrieved from http://www.iom.edu



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