Patricia Mae O.

Cacho
UST - Pharmacy Intern

How to prevent medication errors in the hospital

In the hospital setting, medication errors cannot be fully prevented but

there are simple ways on how to minimize the medication errors happening in
the hospital.
Prescriptions should be written neatly and can be read easily. Doctors
nowadays write prescriptions so quick that it can be a source of error. Nurses
will have to transcribe and order the medication and the pharmacists will
dispense the said order. If the nurse transcribed and ordered the wrong
medication, the pharmacist will dispense the wrong medication thus, creating
a medication error. One way to minimize the chances of medication error is to
double check the prescription carefully. If you do not understand or cannot
read the prescription properly, do not hesitate to ask the doctor. It is better to
ask questions than to make a wild guess, since the life of the patient is at
stake. Pharmacists usually dispense hundreds of drugs a day in the hospital
setting. Pharmacists create ways on how to minimize the chances of
medication errors through how they display their stocks. Look a like and
sound a like drugs (LASA drugs) should not be placed beside each other in
order to prevent wrong dispensing. Drugs with different dosage forms should
also not be placed beside each other. Pharmacists should ALWAYS double
check the medications they dispense. Double or triple checking will take time
but it is better to be safe than sorry. Pharmacists should read the labels
carefully since there are certain manufacturers who create similar labels for
different drugs. Once the drugs has been dispensed, the nurses will also have
to check them in case there is a wrong dispensing. Double checking is an
important step in preventing medication errors. Stocks should also be
checked especially their expiry dates. It is best to check these stocks every
week, to make sure there are no discolorations and such. One strategy to use
is the famous FIFO or First in, first out strategy. This strategy makes sure
that the drugs that are first displayed should also be the first ones to be
dispensed to the patients to prevent drugs expiring.

In the clinical setting, clinical pharmacists usually check the

medications prescribed and ordered by the doctors. To prevent medication
errors, the clinical pharmacists should double check and make sure the drugs

being administered to the patient is correct and accurate. The clinical

pharmacists should not hesitate and suggest ways on how to improve the
condition of the patient through their interventions. Their interventions can
actually help reduce the chances of medication errors since the clinical
pharmacists have a good knowledge on drug interactions. The clinical
pharmacists should always be available to the doctors and nurses in case of
emergencies.
In case a medication error occurred, always make sure it is reported to
the right authorities to prevent the same error to happen again.