Submitted by admin on Tue, 2006-11-21 08:00. ::
mericans spend billions of dollars every year on prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, weight-loss products, vitamins and herbal supplements. Many products are beneficial when used as directed. They cure illness, maintain and improve our health.
But the explosive use of these products means there is plenty of room for error. Medication errors have become far too common and costly in today's health care system.
In July, the nation's Institute of Medicine, IOM, issued a landmark report, "Preventing Medication Errors." The report jolted the health care industry, stating that medication errors injure an estimated 1.5 million people each year in the United States. IOM also calculated that the expense of treating drug-related injuries in hospital costs alone is some $3.5 billion annually. Both numbers, IOM said, were likely underestimates.
But the disturbing part of the report was that IOM considered these 1.5 million errors to be preventable. Such preventable errors can occur at any point along the way -- from prescribing to dispensing to administering to monitoring the drug for side effects. Patients, too, can be confused about instructions for taking the medication.
To reduce such errors, IOM listed action steps for everyone involved in health care: patients, nurses, pharmacists, physicians, hospitals and health care organizations, pharmacies, government agencies and pharmaceutical companies. Among the recommendations were improved drug container labeling, more information for consumers, better communication of medication information to consumers and providers, and the use of electronic prescribing and other information technology applications.
All are good steps, of course, but what IOM said is crucial to reducing medication errors is "establishing and maintaining strong partnerships between health care providers and patients" -- in essence, improving the patient-provider relationship.
Launched by the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors and the Massachusetts Medical Society, with support from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety and Medical Error Reduction, Med List promotes patient safety in three ways.
First, it helps patients track their use of medications: when they should be taken, the purpose for taking them, if monitoring is required and possible danger signs. Second, it helps patients discuss their medication history and use with their physicians. And third, it gives physicians more complete and accurate information about a patient's medications, thus providing a safer level of care.
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