In 2006, the Institute of Medicine issued a report citing medication mistakes as the most common medical errors, resulting in an estimated $3.5 billion in added costs for lost wages, productivity and additional health care expenses.
Young children are the most likely victims of surgery-related medication mistakes, a new study has found, and poor communication as the patient moves from the operating room to recovery is the most likely culprit.
Before the program, Chiquita Parker, a 25-year-old single mother with lupus, too ill to continue her job with special needs children, repeatedly made medication mistakes, although she knows she depends on warfarin to prevent clots than can cause strokes, paralysis, or death.
Medication mistakes are more likely to happen with a high number of patients to look after.
Over 770,000 medication mistakes occur every year, contributing to approximately 7,000 deaths in the United States.
Medication mistakes can happen at a pharmacy when two similarly-abbreviated medications are given to you, the unknowing patient.
Or, medication mistakes can happen when you take multiple medications without understanding how they may interact with each other.
The last study speaks to a healthcare issue that, believe it or not, is far more common than medication mistakes or surgery on the wrong patient.
Medication mistakes can happen anywhere: as an in-patient at a hospital or from simply misreading illegible handwriting, resulting in administering 100 times the dose of a medication you are supposed to receive.
