14 hours ago · This occurs when a patient takes a medication inappropriately. Patient education is the only way to prevent this type of error. Known Allergen. Dispensing a drug that the patient has an allergy often due to failure to communicate with the patient, inappropriate chart review, inaccurate charting, or lack of technologic interface. Known Contraindication >> Go To The Portal
When dispensing errors occur, it may be wise for you to seek legal advice. Where possible, ask someone who is not part of the dispensing incident to facilitate the investigation to bring an objective point of view. Inform the prescriber of the incident and confirm the details of the initial prescription.
While national attention has been paid to errors in medication dispensing issues, it remains a widespread problem. The best method to enhance patient safety is to develop a multi-faceted strategy for education and prevention.
Transcription errors (eg, omissions, inaccuracies) account for ~15% of all dispensing errors. 6 These errors can be reduced by consistently using reliable methods to verify patient identity while entering the prescription into the computer.
An incorrect dose occurs when an inappropriate or different medication dose is given other than what was ordered, errors of omission when a scheduled dose of medication is not given, and when a drug is given via an incorrect route.
You should be open and honest with the patient — apologise and explain what went wrong. You should record the mistake and ensure that it is reported appropriately within the organisation. For example, notifying the superintendent pharmacist.
Filing a Pharmacy Error Lawsuit Pharmacists may liable for malpractice if they dispense the wrong drug, the incorrect dosage or fail to recognize a contraindication with other medicines the patient is taking. A lawsuit can be used to recover for both economic and noneconomic losses.
Errors may be potential -- detected and corrected prior to the administration of the medication to the patient. The three most common dispensing errors are: dispensing an incorrect medication, dosage strength or dosage form; miscalculating a dose; and failing to identify drug interactions or contraindications.
Taking the wrong medication, the wrong dosage of medication, or a medication that has a bad reaction with another drug can have dangerous side effects, including permanent disability or death.
These alerts are a crucial part of the NHS' work to rapidly alert the healthcare system to risks and to provide guidance on preventing potential incidents that may lead to avoidable harm or death.
Acknowledge that a mistake has happened and offer an apology. Inform your doctor about what happened (if you have taken any doses of the wrong medicine). Advise you to see your doctor or go to the hospital (if you may have been harmed or put at risk by taking the wrong medicine).
Definition of a dispensing error A dispensing error is a discrepancy between a prescription and the medicine that the pharmacy delivers to the patient or distributes to the ward on the basis of this prescription, including the dispensing of a medicine with inferior pharmaceutical or informational quality [1–6].
Medication errors are detected by voluntary reporting, direct observation, and chart review. Organizations need to establish systems for prevention of medication errors through analyzing the cause of errors to identify opportunities for quality improvement and system changes (Morimoto, Seger, Hsieh, & Bates, 2004).
Reporting (providing accounts of mistakes) and disclosing (sharing with patients and significant others) actual errors and near misses provide opportunities to reduce the effects of errors and prevent the likelihood of future errors by, in effect, warning others about the potential risk of harm.
Consequences for the nurse For a nurse who makes a medication error, consequences may include disciplinary action by the state board of nursing, job dismissal, mental anguish, and possible civil or criminal charges.
NICE Guidance SC1 indicates that a safeguarding issue in relation to managing medicines could include: deliberate withholding of a medicine without a valid reason. incorrect use of a medicine for reasons other than the benefit of a resident. deliberate attempt to harm through use of a medicine.
Which should be the first step if a medication error occurs? Notify the physician that the wrong medication has been given. Medication errors with parenteral medications can be easily corrected if caught within 10 minutes.
Repeated checking and counterchecking is an important strategy to minimize dispensing errors. Comparing the written prescription with the product that appears in the computer, with the label being printed, and with the medication that is being filled will help reduce errors. Confirmation bias and preconceived notions makes self-checking a poor method to reduce errors. Whenever possible, it is advisable to have the rechecking done by another person, typically a pharmacist. If this is not possible, delayed self-checking rather than continuous self-checking is an alternate strategy. 14 A delayed verification will allow the pharmacist to study the prescription from a fresh perspective, which will help in identifying the error that may not have caught his/her attention the first time the prescription was handled.
Misplaced zeros, decimal points, and faulty units are common causes of medication errors due to misinterpretation. 10 A transcription or interpretation error involving a zero or a decimal point means that the patient may receive at least 10 times more medication than indicated, which can result in serious consequences (eg, levothyroxine, warfarin). 11 These errors may be prevented by using computer alerts or by stocking a single strength of the medication in the pharmacy. These errors may be detected when reviewing the label directions during patient counseling. The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) offers a list of error-prone abbreviations, symbols, and dose designations (a brief list of common dispensing errors is given in the Table). Being familiar with this type of information may also help prevent dispensing errors. 12
Pharmacists’ “second guessing” of illegible and/or ambiguous prescriptions, nonstandard abbreviations, acronyms, decimals, and call-in prescriptions are frequently associated with medication errors. 6 Whenever in question, it is important to call the prescriber to clarify any uncertainties or doubts regarding the prescription. Clarification obtained from the physician should be promptly documented. All verbal prescriptions should be immediately transcribed to a blank prescription pad and read back to the caller to ensure that the prescription has been transcribed correctly.
1 Dispensing errors account for ~21% of all medication errors. 2 In addition to causing serious morbidity and mortality, dispensing errors increase the economic burden on society by adding to health care costs.
One way to avoid mix-ups among lookalike drugs is to store them away from each other in the medication storage area. Medication bottles should be properly organized with labels facing forward. It is also a good idea to routinely check all medications on the shelves and discard any expired medications. Use of storage bins, cabinets, or drawers can result in misplacement of look-alike drugs. It is also advisable to lock up or sequester drugs with high potential of causing errors.
If the prescription was supplied at a time when there was another Responsible Pharmacist on duty, then it’s likely that they would also share responsibility for the supply of a medicine that did not meet the standard required. Cathy Cooke. is.
Your initial patient conversation will help inform a root-cause analysis, looking at: 1 Whether the appropriate clinical checks were completed and endorsed; 2 Who dispensed and completed the final accuracy check of the item; 3 Who gave the prescription to the patient and what they recall discussing with the patient; 4 If everyone involved was up to date with their training.
As the Responsible Pharmacist, you are responsible for the safe and effective running of the pharmacy. Whether you are the person who made the error or if it was another member of the pharmacy team, once you become aware, you need to promptly take all reasonable steps to make things right.
You should have a standard operating procedure (SOP) in your pharmacy to help guide you in this sort of situation.
When combined with the knowledge and judgment of your pharmacists, RxSafetyAdvisor provides protection against medication dispensing errors at the point of dispense with a notification to the pharmacist.
RxSafety Advisor first examines National Drug Code (NDC) numbers, drug dispensing quantities, and days' supplies. It cross-references this data against absolute minimum and maximum safe prescription dosing, clinical significance scoring and likelihood scoring. It then indicates any potential look-alike/sound-alike (LASA) medication errors.
Advanced services provide even greater screening benefits, including medication dose screening for pediatric (ages 12 and under) and geriatric (65 years and older) patients.
A dispensing error is when an oversight on a prescription or drug label is made during the dispensing process, resulting in an incorrect prescription quantity or medication.
When a dispensing error occurs, the relevant issues to check include whether there was actually an error, whether the drug was taken, and if so, whether it caused health problems.
In this article, I explained about dispensing errors, which are errors made manually. A dispensing error is an error in the amount of medication prescribed or the medication prescribed due to a mistake in the prescription or drug label.
Medication dispensing errors, no matter their circumstances, typically boil down to one cause: negligence. When a doctor, nurse, or other hospital staff member makes a mistake with your medication, they acted negligently and need to be held accountable for their actions.
Here are some common examples of hospital staff medication dispensing errors our Florida medical malpractice lawyers have seen:
If you or a loved one suffered due to a medication dispensing error made by a hospital staff member, do not hesitate to contact our firm as soon as possible. As dedicated victim advocates, we will conduct a thorough review of your situation, investigate the cause of the medication error, and build your case.