The improper use of medications results in an estimated $76 billion in health care costs and possibly as many as 100,000 deaths each year. The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) has developed a national plan to reduce the thousands of injuries and deaths annually attributed to medication errors. They have identified three critical areas the health care industry should focus on. These areas are the need for continuous quality improvement activities in our nation's health care practice sites, required practitioner review of all drug products before naming and labeling is approved by FDA, and the need for patients themselves to understand their important roles in error prevention.

National reporting programs reveal that medication errors are repetitive in nature. ISMP is working to foster ongoing quality improvement efforts in all pharmacy practice settings. These efforts will be aimed at preventing well-known and repetitive errors.

Practitioner review of all drug products prior to FDA approval is part of a positive-error prevention program to guard against human error by systematic analysis of the potential for user error, to prevent them before they happen. Over the next year the ISMP will place the highest priority on this goal, to make practitioner review an integral part of our nation's drug approval process. For example, many errors from similar-sounding drug names could be avoided if proposed names for medications were reviewed before approval.

The third area is greater patient understanding of their role in safe medication use and error prevention. About 25% of reported medication errors result from the wrong medication administered because of confusing names. Even computerized prescribing and bar coding of labels won't prevent errors made when a practitioner confuses similar sounding drug names. However, inclusion of the purpose of the medication on every drug order could help prevent most of these errors. In addition, every patient should understand what condition the medication is prescribed for. Patients must understand how important their role is in ensuring safety.

Over the coming year, ISMP will work to ensure that patients and caregivers insist on full explanations of new medications while in the doctor's office and that the purpose of the medication be written on each new prescription. Simple precautionary steps such as these will help patients be better informed and pharmacists assure that the medication provided is consistent with the intent of the therapy.

Taos Pharmacy has tools to help you avoid medication errors. We can provide your medication in blister packs to help you remember your daily doses. Working together we can make medication safer and more effective!

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