Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (ARHQ), an agency of the federal government, has partnered with the Ad Council to promote two-way communication between patients and their doctors as a means of improving care and reducing errors. The campaign currently focuses on public service advertisements targeting clinicians and emphasizing the idea that simple communication with patients can be one of the most powerful diagnostic tools. According to research, patients are more likely to adhere to their treatment plans if they engage in direct communication with their doctors. Communication can also help doctors understand a patient’s condition and make more informed decisions as to medications.

This Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog has previously reported on various efforts by doctors and hospitals to improve patient safety. Both Maryland and Oregon have shown signs of improvement in communication between pharmacies and state pharmacy boards, leading to successes in both reporting of errors and prevention of future errors in hospitals. The “Good Catch” program, pioneered at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins, promotes voluntary reporting of errors through internal hospital channels in the hopes of preventing more serious errors before they occur. The program has caught on in other hospitals around the country and has produced positive results.

The ARHQ/Ad Council campaign differs from the above programs in that it is an initiative of the federal government, and therefore has potential to reach doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies nationwide. It also represents a collaboration between the public and private sectors, with the nonprofit Ad Council distributing PSA’s for the ARHQ. The ARHQ is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Its mandate is to conduct and support research regarding issues of health care such as safety, quality, cost, and access. It publishes and disseminates this research to clinicians nationwide. The agency also regulates certified Patient Safety Organizations, groups authorized by federal statute to promote reduction of medical errors and improvement of patient safety.

Continue reading "Government Promotes Communication Between Doctors and Patients to Reduce Pharmacy Errors" »

Pharmacy and medication errors in hospitals and elsewhere in the health care system create substantial risks to patients, along with errors in diagnosis and treatment, equipment problems, and others. State governments often work to promote and improve protection of patient safety in health care. Oregon, as an example, has taken a step towards improving patient safety by encouraging self-monitoring and reporting by hospitals, doctors, and pharmacies statewide. The Oregon Legislature passed a bill in 2003 that created the Oregon Patient Safety Commission, a collaboration between the health care industry and state agencies to prevent medical errors. The state estimates that, last year, at least 34 deaths throughout Oregon resulted from medical errors. The program encourages the submission of detailed reports on medical errors to the Commission, which compiles the data and keeps track of statistics and trends.

Oregon has 58 community hospitals, and all of them have agree to submit reports. Most of the state’s hospitals have been reporting since the program started in 2007, and only two hospitals were still holding out as of last year. According to the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, hospitals are reporting errors at a rate to similar to that in states that mandate reporting. The system is far from perfect, though. Because of its voluntary nature, hospitals do not always provide patients with notifications of errors, even if they report those errors to the state. Hospitals also do not report every error known to have occurred.

Pharmacies and surgical centers in Oregon have some catching up to do. According to an investigation by the Oregonian newspaper, the state’s pharmacy board receives about 600 complaints per year, but the Commission only received six error reports from pharmacies between the fall of 2008 and the summer of 2011. About half of Oregon’s licensed surgical centers have agreed to participate with the Commission, and of those who have agreed, only two-thirds actually reported anything in the past year.

Continue reading "Patient Safety Initiatives in Maryland and Oregon are Showing Signs of Success" »

A new machine at the University of California at San Francisco may permanently change the way pharmacies operate, hopefully to the benefit of patient safety. The machine is a “robot pharmacist” named PillPick, and it does much of the work ordinarily performed by pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. So far, as shown in this video, it has been able to do the work with a far lower error rate than human pharmacists.

PillPick cost around $7 million to install, which is less than the amount UCSF spends in a year on pharmacist salaries. People must periodically stock the machine with medications, but PillPick is largely autonomous after that. Medications are stored in bins and marked with bar codes. The machine identifies the correct medication and uses a suction-powered arm to remove pills from bins. Its programming allows it to recognize when its arm has failed to pick up a pill or has picked up too many. It sorts the correct number of pills to fill a prescription and applies labels with the identifying prescription information. At full capacity, it can dispense more than 10,000 medication doses in a day. UCSF reports that PillPick has freed its pharmacists to work in other areas of the hospital, such as managing IV medications and patient drug treatments. In over 350,000 doses, it apparently has not made any errors. A pharmacy robot suitable for retail use costs around $200,000, making it a tempting investment for many pharmacies.

The role of the pharmacist has changed considerably as technology has advanced. With computers and newer systems of packing and distributing medications, pharmacists now spend much of their time supervising the dispensing of pre-packaged medications rather than actually preparing medicines. Machines like PillPick are in many ways a continuation of these changes, with the goals of improving efficiency, cutting costs, and reducing the risks of human error in dispensing medications. Human error is the single largest factor in pharmacy errors, occurring in as much as two percent of all prescriptions nationwide.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to ensure that pharmacy errors never occur, whether a pharmacy is managed by a human or robotic pharmacist. The legal requirement that a licensed pharmacist dispense medication is sometimes the only reason human pharmacists are directly involved in the process. The presence of a licensed pharmacist lends a sense of professionalism to a pharmacy, but more important, it gives the appearance of accountability. In the event of an error, someone is in charge to handle the problem or take the liability. The use of robotic pharmacists creates interesting legal questions relating to liability for errors. Where a human pharmacist’s error creates an issue of professional negligence or malpractice, a machine replaces it with issues of proper operation or maintenance as well as product defects.

Continue reading "Pharmacists Compete With Pill-Packing Robots for Patient Safety" »

A system developed at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland intends to prevent accidents before they happen by encouraging clinicians to report situations that might lead to dangerous or even life-threatening incidents for patients. Known as the “Good Catch Awards,” the program distributed 27 honors in its first two years for reports that led to positive changes in patient safety. Such changes ranged from modifications in pharmacy order sheets to a national recall of improperly-labeled drugs.

The “Good Catch” program operates on the theory that, instead of errors being attributable to one individual, most errors result from a flawed system in a hospital. It stresses to doctors and other medical practitioners that its purpose is to find solutions to common errors, not to assign blame for those errors. Not all doctors and others have embraced the system yet, but most acknowledge that it is a vast improvement over safety systems at most hospitals. Robert Stoelting, MD, president of the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation, compared the system to those used in nuclear plants and airlines, where the responsibility for safety is shared by everyone. He suggests the creation of a national database to collect hospitals’ self-reports of “errors and so-called near misses” in order to better share safety information and create greater opportunities to improve patient safety.

Other hospitals have implemented their own “Good Catch” programs, inviting clinicians to share examples of near misses that could have resulted in patient injury but did not. The University of Connecticut Health Center offers a “Good Catch” award for near misses that lead to improvements in patient care. The Minnesota Hospital Association awards a “Good Catch for Patient Safety Award” to clinicians “who demonstrate their commitment to keeping patients safe by ‘speaking up’ to prevent potential harm to a patient.” The Brantford Community Healthcare System in Brantford, Ontario, Canada solicits stories from its medical staff about incidents that contribute to its “culture of safety.”

Continue reading ""Good Catch" Program Hopes to Encourage the Reporting of Pharmacy Errors Before They Occur" »

Our Prince George’s County, Maryland pharmacy error lawyer blog recently reported on the important role communication plays between patients and their healthcare providers—in order to reduce the risk of medication errors or pharmacy misfills, and to promote the safe and effective use of drug therapy.

Every year, 1.5 million Americans experience medication-related injuries, according to a study by the Institute of Medicine. In order to prevent medication errors, the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) reports that it is important for patients to keep accurate health records with them when visiting the doctor and pharmacist, including current prescription medication lists detailing the dosage information along with all health conditions that the medication is treating.

Patient medication lists can reduce the risk of pharmacy misfills, incorrect dosages, medication duplication, allergy interaction, and any harmful side effects from potential dangerous drug interactions. The APhA also states that by keeping drug lists with them at all times, patients can prevent medical error by providing emergency staff and hospital pharmacists with important information that could saves lives in an emergency.

According to a recent Chicago Tribune article, doctors are now recommending that individuals turn the medication lists into a comprehensive health journal, to keep healthcare providers informed and to prevent medication error injury.

Continue reading "Reducing Medication Error Injury by Keeping Health Record Journals " »

According to a recent study discussed in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), that our Baltimore medication error lawyers have been following, hospitalized patients are more likely to have medication errors than non-hospitalized patients—when drugs used to treat chronic conditions are unintentionally discontinued in hospitals, especially if the patients are in a hospital’s intensive care unit.

The study reportedly showed that transitions in healthcare can increase a patient’s chances for medical errors that stem from inaccurate or incomplete communication between the hospital staff, the primary care physician, and the patient—causing an interruption or discontinuation of medications that aim to help treat patients’ chronic diseases on a long term basis.

According to the authors, the problem of medication errors and the unintentional discontinuation of drugs can happen during hospital stays, transfers and discharge. Treatment in intensive care units can also increase the risk of medication errors of omission as the healthcare providers are focused on emergency care and may engage in the practice of discontinuing a medication used for chronic illnesses during a time of critical illness.

The medication error study followed nearly 400,000 patients who were older than 65, and who had over one year of experience continuously taking one of the following five drug classes: respiratory inhalers, gastric acid suppressors, statins, anticoagulant or antiplatelet agents, and levothyroxine, used to treat the thyroid gland.

Continue reading "Report Finds Medication Errors in Chronic Drug Therapy After Seniors Leave Hospitals" »

Our Baltimore medication error injury blog recently reported that according to the Institute of Medicine, 1.5 million medication error injuries occur every year around the country that are preventable, and as many as 98,000 deaths due to medical errors.

When Nelson Bailey decided to have elective surgery for diverticulitis, a condition causing him abdominal discomfort, he was told that he would be out of the Good Samaritan Medical Center in around four days. What Bailey didn’t expect, according to a recent article in the Sun Sentinel, was that he would suffer from two different and equally serious medical errors at the hospital that would change his live completely.

Bailey, a Palm Beach County judge, underwent the intestinal surgery in October 2009, where the surgeon made a medical error by mistakenly leaving a surgical sponge inside Bailey’s body—that was reportedly as big as a washcloth, and was left to fester for five months.

When Bailey was recovering from surgery he then experienced a hospital pharmacy error, after the pharmacy prepared the incorrect medication. The doctor had reportedly ordered blood pressure lowering medication, but when the wrong medication was sent from the pharmacy, the nurse gave him the drug without double checking the drug label.

Continue reading "Medical Error Leaves Judge with Surgical Sponge in Body" »

Our Hartford County, Maryland pharmacy error injury attorneys have been following the latest healthcare technology introduced by New York University’s Langone Medical Center, in an effort to reduce the amount of time it takes to check patients in to the hospital, and to eliminate medical errors.

As our lawyers have discussed in a previous Maryland medication error injury blog, according the Institute of Medicine, there are 1.5 million medication error injuries every year that are preventable, and as many as 98,000 deaths due to medical errors.

The new biometric technology aimed to improve patient safety is made by Fujitsu, the technology services company, and works with the concept that like fingerprints, every patient has an individual and unique palm-vein configuration. The technology uses near-infrared waves to take an image of a patient’s palm veins, which the software then links to that patient’s medical records in about a minute. Other reported benefits of the technology is that a patient does not have to be conscious during the check-in process, and the system eliminates the need for a patient to fill out any forms, unless the patient's insurance has changed since the last palm scan.

The hospital reportedly experiences around 1.7 million patient visits per year, and is in the process of converting as many patients as possible to the new palm scanning system, to prevent medical errors and patient injury. Since 250 scanners were installed in June, over 25,000 patients have received palm-vein scans that have been registered in the system. The palm scan does not appear in the patient’s medical records, and it is not stored as an image. After the palm is scanned, the image is converted into special numeric code.

Continue reading "New Palm-Vein Scanning Technology Introduced to Reduce Medical Errors in Hospitals" »

According to a recent report in Medical News Today that our Baltimore medical error injury attorneys have been following, Professor Sir Liam Donaldson has been appointed as the new Envoy for Patient Safety for the World Health Organization (WHO). Donaldson recently stated, in an effort to highlight the fact that healthcare safety around the world needs to be improved, that going to the hospital is far more dangerous than flying on an airplane, as the WHO reports that millions of people die annually from medical errors associated with healthcare—far more, according to Donaldson, than accidents on planes.

In his striking comparison, Donaldson claimed that if a patient entered the hospital he would have a 1 in 10 chance of experiencing a medical error, with the chances of wrongful death due to medical error being 1 in 300. Donaldson then stated that in comparison, the risk of dying in a plane crash is far less—approximately 1 in 10 million.

Donaldson reportedly stated that in an effort to reduce the growing number of hospital related infections resulting in patient injury or harm that happen every year, patients need to ask questions and make sure that hospitals maintain the basic hygiene standards and conform to the WHO’s healthcare checklist to prevent medical error or patient illness or injury during surgical procedures.

According to the WHO statistics, 7 in 100 patients in the hospitals throughout developed countries experience infections linked to healthcare, whereas in developing countries this number increases to 10 patients in every 100. The risk of infection is directly tied to the length of time a patient stays in the hospital's intensive care unit. The WHO figures show that risk of infection is lower in the United States than in Europe, but the death from hospital-acquired infection is higher. In the United States, 1.7 million hospital acquired infections reportedly happen every year, resulting in 100,000 deaths, and in Europe, 4.5 million hospital acquired infections happen every year, resulting in around 37,000 deaths.

Continue reading " WHO Claims Hospitals Are More Dangerous Than Airline Travel" »

In a recent Baltimore County pharmacy misfill injury blog, our attorneys discussed a tragic medical error that caused the death of an premature infant, after a pharmacy technician accidentally entered the wrong information into the computer, causing the intravenous solution prepared buy an automated machine to contain a lethal dose of sodium chloride. This pharmacy error has reportedly brought the issue of electronic medical health records safety concerns back into the forefront of patient safety.

As our attorneys have reported in a related Hartford County medication error injury blog, the medical industry is shifting toward electronic medical records and computerized systems that make medical processes and prescription orders automatic, in an effort to reduce pharmacy error injury or wrongful death.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the federal government is also currently helping the digital shift by giving $23 billion in incentives to healthcare providers who purchase the electronic systems, with the hopes that these medical technologies will help increase access to patients' medical information, help healthcare providers communicate better with each other, help doctors to see test results more quickly, and implement electronic safeguards to remind doctors about recommended medical practices, or to alert them about harmful drug interactions before prescribing.

With all of the benefits that come with electronic medical records and computerized systems, potential problems are also taking place, like crashing of hospital computers, or software bugs that interfere with important data, or even delete information from computerized records. Computerized systems also reportedly can produce data about patients that is disorganized or difficult to read, especially when a doctor is quickly looking for critical patient information.

Continue reading "The Benefits and Problems of Electronic Medical Records Systems" »

Our Talbot County, Maryland pharmacy error injury lawyer blog recently discussed a series of recalls drug maker Johnson & Johnson made last year, in an effort to maintain the health and safety of consumers—after complaints of an unusual smell causing nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and gastrointestinal pain were reported, due to trace amounts of 2, 4, and 6-tribomoanisole (TBA), a chemical used to preserve wood necessary in the construction of pallets used for transportation and shipping of the product packaging materials.

In related news, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceutical, the drug manufactures of Risperdal (risperidone), an antipsychotic drug used for the treatment of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and irritability associated with autistic disorder in adolescents and children, recently voluntarily recalled 16,000 bottles of the brand name drug and 24,000 bottles of the generic drug—also because of an unusual odor.

The Risperdal drug manufacturers found that the unusual smell was also caused by trace amounts of TBA, used to preserve wood pallets for the transportation and storage of product materials. While not considered to be toxic, a small group of patients have reported gastrointestinal symptoms when taking products with this offensive odor. The drug maker claims that the presence of TBA has not caused any reported serious adverse events, but the company has instituted a series of actions to reduce the potential of TBA contamination in the future, to avoid personal injury or harm to any consumers.

This is the second medication error warning surrounding Risperdal this year. Last month our attorneys discussed another warning involving Risperdal in a Baltimore pharmacy error injury blog, issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, discussing potentially dangerous medication errors associated with Risperdal and Requip, a drug used for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and Restless Legs Syndrome, with 226 reports of patients receiving the incorrect medication.

Continue reading "Risperdal Recalled by Manufacturer Due to Drug Contamination" »

In a previous Baltimore medication error injury blog post, our attorneys discussed a recent investigation by Consumer Reports Health that found evidence of inconsistency among prescription drug labels for warfarin, a blood thinner. The report found that important safety warnings and medication guides that are required by the federal government in order to prevent medication errors, were often omitted or left out of patient’s warfarin prescriptions.

As our Maryland pharmacy mistake lawyer blog has reported previously, every year, according to research by the Institute of Medicine, there are 1.5 million preventable medication error injuries, one third of which take place outside of hospitals, where consumers must make their own decisions about following medication instructions. Consumer Reports Health suggests that these medication errors happen because consumers are confused by the material that is included with prescriptions, and that they rely heavily on the medication bottle label—a problem if there are omissions or inconsistencies with the drug label.

The report found the following discrepancies:

• Four out of five pharmacies neglected to provide the medication guides that are required by the FDA for certain drugs, including warfarin.
• All of the pharmacies provided their own materials for the patients, but these conflicted with the guides for warfarin approved by the FDA. The FDA recommended that patients abstain from alcohol while taking the drug, while two pharmacies warned patients that they should just limit or avoid alcohol usage.

Continue reading "Report Warns Consumers to Take Precautions With Drug Labels and Instructions" »

A recent investigation that our Hartford County pharmacy error injury attorneys have been following found evidence that drug labels are often missing the important safety warnings necessary to prevent medication error and that many pharmacies neglect to include the proper medication guides that are required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The investigation was performed by Consumer Reports Heath, by filling warfarin prescriptions at five different New York drugstores. Warfarin is a blood thinner used for stroke prevention that is one of the most frequently prescribed drugs in the country.

The results found that four out of the five pharmacies neglected to provide the FDA-approved medication instructions that are required for specific drugs, warfarin included. Although the pharmacies reportedly provided their own medication materials, they were different from the warfarin drug information approved by the FDA, in that the warnings about the usage of alcohol were different. Warfarin can reportedly cause life-threatening internal bleeding if used incorrectly, and is the second in line for drugs that cause emergency room visits in hospitals across the country, due to medication error.

Another goal in the investigation was to see how certain drug labels, consumer drug information sheets, and medication warning stickers differed in each pharmacy. Although a certain degree of variation was expected, as various drugstore chains use different software to print labels and drug instructions, the findings raised significant concern.

Continue reading "Consumer Reports Health Investigation Finds Drug Label Warning Inconsistency" »

In a previous Washington D.C. medication error injury lawyer blog, we covered the recent guidelines announced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) aimed to prevent medication errors and overdoses with children’s over-the-counter (OTC) medications.

According to the FDA, accidental medication errors and overdoses in young children are a common health problem, but a problem that is entirely preventable. The new guidelines are aimed to reduce frequent medication administration errors that happen as a result of confusing label instructions, inconsistency with the drug measuring devices, and confusion over the exact units of medication measurement—to prevent harm or injury.

Along with the new medication error prevention guidelines, the FDA also outlined tips for parents and caregivers, to reduce administration error when giving medicine to a child or infant.

According to the FDA, always:

• Know the active ingredients in the medicine that you are giving to your child.
• Read and follow the drug facts label on all medicines that are OTC.
• Use the tools for dosage administration that come with the medicine. Never use tools from other medication.
• Be aware of the difference between a teaspoon and a tablespoon.
• Know your child’s weight exactly.
• Check the medicine three times.
• Make sure to give the right medicine in the exact amount that is directed.
• Ask your doctor, nurse or pharmacist to make sure which medicines can be used at the same time.
• Store your medicines in a safe place that is out of reach for children.
• Make sure to use caps on all medicines that are child-resistant.

Continue reading "FDA Tips for Administering OTC Medication to Children—to Reduce Medication Error Injury" »

In recent news that our Rockville, Maryland medication error injury attorneys have been following, twelve Los Angeles-area hospitals were hit with administrative penalties this week by the California Department of Public Health, ranging from $25,000 up to $75,000, after the facilities were found to be non-compliant with requirements that were likely to cause serious injury or death to patients.

One medical center, Promises Hospital, was reportedly fined $50,000 for a medication mix-up that caused a patient with a heart condition to require emergency response.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a medication error was reported in 2010 that led to the inspection of Promises Hospital. The inspectors reportedly found that a patient was given a dose of Cardizem, the drug used to treat irregular heart rhythms, that was 10 times the ordered dose—causing the patient’s heart rate to drop so quickly that the nurse was unable to get a blood reading for almost 10 minutes.

According to the department, when problems are found in facilities, hospitals must take corrective actions to prevent any similar medication errors or other problems from happening in the future, and causing injury or death to patients.

Promises Hospital reportedly claimed that it has initiated an investigation into the drug error, and has taken the necessary steps to prevent this medication mix-up for happening again in the future.

Continue reading "Hospital Fined $50K in Medication Mistake" »

In a recent Baltimore, Maryland pharmacy error injury lawyer blog, our attorneys discussed an FDA panel’s recent recommendation that dosing instructions be based primarily on children’s weight, and not age—as studies found that many parents administer the wrong drug dosage to their children because of confusing medication label instructions.

The FDA has recently released new guidelines that are expected to reduce the prevalence of medication error and overdoses with Children's liquid over-the-counter (OTC) medication, which is administered and dispensed with cups, spoons and droppers.

The guidance was reportedly developed after past reports of medication errors revealed that labels often cause confusion with administration, the measuring devices provided in drug packages are often inconsistent with the labels, and parents often used devices from other drug products to dispense the medication that do not match the label instructions—leading to medication error.

According to the FDA recommendations:

• Dosage dispensing devices (cups, spoons, droppers) should be included with all OTC medications that are liquid and taken orally.
• Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs will reportedly now come with dispensing devices that are calibrated to match the exact units of measurement specified on the drug label—to avoid drug error or injury.
• Companies should make sure that the liquid dispensing devices are used only to measure the intended drug products.
• The markings on the dispensing devices should be visible when the liquid medication is added for measurement.

And as our Maryland medication mistake attorneys discussed previously, the FDA is also advising that liquid acetaminophen products will be changed to one concentration only, with age-appropriate dosages, to reduce medication dosing errors.

Continue reading "New FDA Guidelines to Prevent Children’s OTC Medication Errors" »

In recent pharmacy error injury news that our Hartford County, Maryland attorneys have been following, a panel advising the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recommended that dosing instructions for children’s acetaminophen be based primarily on a child’s weight and not age, and be changed to include children under two years—to reduce the risk of medication error.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), a majority of dosing information for over-the-counter (OTC) children’s medicine containing acetaminophen have instructions based on age, with only some information on dosing by weight, causing confusion in dosing that could lead to error or injury. Acetaminophen is the most commonly used OTC medication to lower fevers in children and relieve pain, with the best-known brand being Children’s Tylenol.

The federal advisory panel has recently recommended that all acetaminophen products should contain a standard label with updated weight tables to reflect average weight increase among children over the past 20 years.

According to the FDA reports from 2000 to 2010, there were 14 fatalities and 74 non-fatal adverse events that were related to acetaminophen drug errors in infants and children from the age of 13 and younger. Some of the medication error fatalities were due to incorrect usage of the more-concentrated infant drops that were meant for older children, but used on infants.

The FDA panel reportedly recommended a single infant and children’s medication formula in 2009 that is slated for release this summer. The panel also recommends that the FDA should consider a single concentration of acetaminophen in solid forms, to avoid possible drug errors or overdoses with children.. The panel also voted to add dosage instructions for children from six months to two years onto liquid products. Currently on acetaminophen formulations for children, the dosing information is for children from 2-12 years old, with instructions to contact your doctor for children under 2 years.

Continue reading "FDA Panel Looks to Prevent Drug Error by Changing Children’s Acetaminophen Product Labels" »

The Institute of Medicine, reports that every year, 1.5 million people are injured by medication-related events. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), that our Baltimore medication error injury attorneys have been following, a recent report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), found that the number of patients treated in hospitals across the country for illnesses and personal injuries from incorrectly taking medications like sedatives, blood thinners, corticosteroids and other drugs, increased over 50% from 2004 to 2008.

The report also found that over 800,000 U.S. patients were also treated in emergency rooms across the country in medication-related events, stemming from the incorrect usage of antibiotics, insulin, painkillers, and cardiovascular and other drugs. The WSJ looked at some of these individual drugs, to examine how they can cause personal harm or injury if taken incorrectly. According to the report:

• Antibiotics can cause an allergic reaction if taken incorrectly, and can also fail to properly fight infections. Also, when taking antibiotics, patients are generally cautioned to limit sun exposure, as it can cause extreme sunburns.
• Painkillers can cause breathings problems or even death if taken with alcohol or other sedatives or painkillers. OTC products that contain the ingredient acetaminophen can harm the liver if taken with a combination of opioid-acetaminophen drugs.
• Antidepressants and tranquilizers, if taken incorrectly, can lead to panic attacks and suicidal tendencies or actions.
• If taken erroneously, corticosteroids prescribed for asthma, arthritis, transplant patients, ulcerative colitis, and other conditions, can worsen other health conditions, like high blood pressure, blood sugar problems, ulcers, and diabetes, and can also lead to withdrawal if a patient stops taking them suddenly.
• Insulin, if not taken as prescribed, can both increase or reduce a patient’s blood-sugar levels, leading to shock and other health complications.
• If a patient fails to take blood thinners correctly, a high dose that is too high can cause bruising, excessive bleeding, whereas a dose that is too low can cause clotting. Effectiveness of the drug can also be threatened when interacting with other medications.
• Blood pressure drugs can also, if the medication is taken erroneously, cause a spike in blood pressure, and an overdose can cause chest pain, dizziness, shortness of breath, a fast or abnormally slow heartbeat, and can also cause coma.
• Cancer drugs, when taken in error, can cause fever, nausea and vomiting, shortness of breath, diarrhea, cause confusion and fatigue, and when an overdose is taken, can even cause death.

Continue reading "Lack of Medication Adherence Can Cause Serious Medication Reactions and Injury " »

As our attorneys reported in a recent Rockville, Maryland pharmacy misfill blog post, according to the National Consumers League (NCL), around three out of four consumers in this country admit they don’t take their prescription drug medication as directed—causing an increase in medication error and injury that has a huge impact on patients and the healthcare industry.

To combat medication error, the NCL has launched a national multi-media medication adherence campaign this month with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), that will aim to raise patient awareness on the importance of taking medication as directed.

According to the NCL, when consumers fail to take medications as instructed by their healthcare professionals, it creates a problem that impacts not only the patient, but the caregivers, employers, researchers, health care practitioners, and tax payers as well. Nonadherence to prescribed medications can also result in injury or death.

Research presented by the league shows that one in three prescriptions never get filled, with 1/3 and 2/3 of hospital admissions linked to medication errors that stem from poor drug adherence. The total cost for nonadherence leads to a reported $300 billion a year.

The campaign will strive to enhance patient safety and improve the healthcare system, encourage health practitioners to properly and effectively communicate the importance of prescription medication adherence to patients, and raise awareness of the problem through public education and a national campaign.

Continue reading "NCL Campaign to Improve Medication Adherence and Patient Safety" »

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, a new national initiative is underway to make prescription medications clearer, and to decrease the rise of medication error that lead to hospitalizations and emergency room visits from patients who take their medication incorrectly—which according to the National Community Pharmacists Association happens to three out of every four Americans.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reportedly planning to test a new one-page information sheet to replace the many leaflet inserts and medication guides that are widely used in retail pharmacy chains across the country. And the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention, the organization responsible for setting quality standards that are enforced by the FDA for the strength, purity and quality of medicines, has also developed a new program to create national standards for prescription labels, which currently vary greatly from pharmacy to pharmacy. The national label standard would require clearer instructions on the medication dosage, the medication timing and clearly state the purpose of the medication—to reduce medication and pharmacy error injury.

Currently, in pharmacies across the country, consumers may receive three different forms of drug information and pamphlets with their prescription medication—drug package inserts that are written by the drug manufacturer with FDA approval, drug guides for specific classes of drugs and products that are required by the FDA, and third-party consumer medical information. And according to the WSJ, recent FDA studies have shown that the drug information offered to consumers does not provide reliable understanding with the people taking the drugs, and is often conflicting in instruction, or even inaccurate, which could lead to patient harm or injury.

According to a recent FDA risk-communication advisory panel, more than half of adults misread or misunderstand one or more of common drug prescription precautions or warnings. In one study, patients were found to better understand language on warning labels that was simple and specific, like “use only on your skin” as opposed to “for external use only.” For consumers with lower English literacy skills, picture icons were provided, like a sun with a black bar, with the phrase, “limit your time in the sun.”

Continue reading "FDA Redesigns Pharmacy Packet Inserts to Avoid Medication Error Injury" »