Medical Inspection – Health Blog

Enlist the help of local pharmacists and encourage patients to ask pharmacists about their medications and ADR Physicians should remember that they have a good source of drug information in local pharmacists. Patients as well as physicians should actively interact with pharmacy personnel to obtain drug information. Physicians should work with local pharmacists to minimize [...]

Take a drug history/document drug allergy A poor drug history may lead to a failure to detect unintended drug effects. A drug history should include the use of alternative medicines or herbal medications, supplements and other over-the-counter (OTC) medications. A recent study indicated that review and documentation of nonprescription substances are uncommon in primary practice. [...]

Update knowledge of therapeutics Three key factors were listed by the IOM that contribute to prescribing error: 1) using the wrong drug name, 2) incorrect dosage calculations, and 3) atypical or unusual and critical dosage frequency. It is very easy to use the wrong drug name when prescribing, because so many new drugs enter the [...]

INTRODUCTION In the United States, an estimated 44,000 to 98,000 deaths annually may be caused by medical errors. These figures were provided in a report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The report documents the fact that medication errors are a major problem in our hospitals and that adverse drug reactions (ADR) remain an important [...]