Patient Safety

Government Program Hopes to Reduce Medication Mistakes Across the Country

April 27, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In prior posts, Maryland medication mistake attorneys have asked our readers to question their doctors before taking prescription medications. Proactive patients are better able to notice potential medication mistakes before they occur and are less likely to suffer injuries.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (“AHRQ”), a part of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, has noted the substantial impact medication mistakes have on patients and the country as a whole. On itswebsite, the AHRQ quotes a report from the Institute of Medicine (“IOM”) which found that medication mistakes kill from 44,000 to 98,000 people each year. The report also indicated that medical mistakes cost the country approximately $17 billion each year in increased health care costs.

In order to help reduce medication mistakes, the AHRQ has developed a national ad campaign to encourage Americans to take a more active role in their health care by asking critical questions of their doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. The program drives home the point that Americans typically ask more questions of a cellular phone salesperson than they do of their physicians. The campaign’s website provides a top ten list of critical questions patients should ask their health care providers during appointments. Additionally, the website also has a “Question Builder” that allows readers to develop their own personalized list of questions.

New Technology: Handheld Device May Help Reduce Hospital Medication Errors

March 27, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent study, researchers found that improper dosages account for nearly 40% of medication errors. Additionally, researchers found that poor communication between health care professionals was the underlying cause of 15.8% of prescription errors. I read an article about an interesting piece of new technology that helps improve dose accuracy and communication between care providers.

The Intellidot Corporation has released the wireless IntelliDot Bedside Medication Administration (“IntelliDot BMA”) which will help eliminate hospital medication errors. The handheld device reads a barcode attached a patient’s wrist and provides the health care professional with all of the patient’s relevant health information. At an instant, a nurse or doctor will know all of the patient’s prescriptions, their required dosages, and the proper way to administer the medication. Additionally, in a hospital equipped with a computerized pharmacy, a doctor can electronically submit a prescription to the hospital’s pharmacy, and the pharmacy can transmit the prescription along with administration instructions to the IntelliDot BMA. Under this system, a hospital can eliminate the need for handwritten prescriptions and therefore greatly reduce the risk of errors caused by a physician’s poor handwriting or the use of improper medication abbreviations.

Universal Medication Form May Help Reduce the Risk of Injuries From Dangerous Prescription Interactions

March 24, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In earlier posts, Maryland medication error attorneys at Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers have suggested that our readers always provide their health care providers with a full list of the prescription and over the counter medications they are currently taking.

The Institute of Safe Medication Practices (“ISMP”) has published a Universal Medication Form for patients to give to their doctors and pharmacists at each visit. On the form, a person can list their medication allergies, their immunizations, their current medications, the strength of their medications, and the frequency with which they take each prescription.

In order to avoid harmful drug interactions that can cause serious injuries or death, please take the time to accurately fill out this form or a similar one and bring it with them to all pharmacy, doctor, or hospital visits.

U.S. Army Uses Electronic Health Records To Help Reduce Medication Errors

March 20, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The medication error attorneys at Lebowitz and Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers are proud to have represented members of this country’s armed forces and their families in a variety of legal matters. In addition to the stresses that come with being a member of the military, soldiers and their families also have to be concerned about the risk of injury from medication errors.

The United States Army is comprised of 675,000 active duty soldiers. Army health centers are responsible for providing medical care to active duty personnel, their dependants, and a substantial population of veterans and their families. As a result, busy Army health facilities, including pharmacies, face the same risk of committing medication errors as their civilian counterparts.

The DeWitt Health Care Network serves 150,000 people in the Fort Belvoir Army community and is taking steps to reduce the risk of injuries from medication errors. Major Lela C. King, Chief of Pharmacy, reported that the network has given its patients pocket-sized medication cards that contain patient allergies, prescriptions, and other vital health information. These cards will reduce the risk of dangerous a physician prescribing a medication that interacts with one the patient is already taking.

Additionally, Major King has overseen the installation of digital patient records software and hardware in Dewitt facilities. According to Major King, the Army has recognized that such electronic health information can “decrease the number of medication errors made at the pharmacy by 70 percent.”

Side Effect Labels on Prescription Bottles May Help Reduce Injuries

March 18, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The Food and Drug Administration is taking steps to warn consumers about potential drug side effects. The Maryland Pharmacists Association reports that sometime this year, the FDA will require all prescriptions to include a “side effects statement” that lists all of a drug’s potential side effects. The proposed labeling could appear on prescription containers and will advise patients to contact their health care provider and the FDA if they experience drug side effects.

Many of these side effects initially may be as minor as a runny nose or muscle stiffness. However, many of these insignificant annoyances can develop into more serious health concerns if a patient continues taking the prescription. To prevent more serious side effects, a patient should recognize any less serious side effects that might occur first and immediately contact their doctors. However, in order to take action, a patient has to know all of a drug’s potential side effects.

Listen to any radio or television commercial for the newest “wonder drug” and you’ll be shocked by the long list of potential side effects that the announcer speed reads before the commercial ends. Maryland medication error attorneys urge our readers to consult their physicians before taking medications so that they know a drug’s potential side effects.

Maryland Medication Error Prevention Checklist

March 11, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Sometime ago, we posted an article on our Maryland truck accident blog that highlighted some of the steps accident victims should take if they are victims of a Maryland truck accident. Our Maryland pharmacy error attorneys have prepared a similar list to help our readers reduce their risk of injury caused by medication errors. We suggest that our readers do the following:

1. When you are given a prescription at the pharmacy, check the label very carefully especially checking the name of the medication and dosage;

2. if the prescription is a refill, examine the pills to ensure that they look like the pills from the prior prescription;

MRI Scans and Drug Patches with Metal May Cause Burns

March 9, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The medication error attorneys at Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers recently learned that the Food and Drug Administration has warned consumers who use medicated skin patches to remove those patches before going through a MRI scan. According to the FDA, some patches contain metal which may heat up during an MRI and burn the patient’s skin. The FDA warns that the metal in many of these patches may not be visible to the patient and not all transdermal patches that contain metal have patient warnings printed on the box. The FDA is currently reviewing the labeling requirements to ensure that patients are adequately warned of this new danger.

Until this review is complete, the FDA suggests that patients who use medicated patches do the following:

• Before undergoing an MRI scan, tell your doctor that you are using a patch and why you are using it;

Chewing Some Prescription Medications Can be Harmful

February 12, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In litigating Maryland pharmacy error cases, our pharmacy negligence attorneys have learned some interesting facts about different drugs, their effects, and the proper manner they are designed to be ingested. Drug manufacturers design medications with a specific method of patient ingestion in mind. Some drugs are designed to be administered through an IV, some are slow release medications that must be swallowed, and others are specifically designed to be chewed and released quickly into the patient’s blood stream.

Other methods of ingestion also exist, for example, some drugs must be taken in form of eye, ear, or nose drops. Still other medications are designed to be absorbed through a patient’s skin.

The varying methods of drug transmission can be daunting and many patients place too much confidence in their pharmacist or doctor and fail to ask questions so that they completely understand their dosage instructions. The Institute for Safe Medication Practices published the story of a woman who suffered from similar overconfidence and died as a result of a negligently prescribed medication. The story is a warning for others to make sure they understand their dosage instructions.

A doctor prescribed an 83 year old patient Cardizem to control her blood pressure. The patient chewed the pills since the pills were too large to swallow. As a result, the patient’s heart rate slowed to dangerous levels, and the woman’s family contacted her pharmacist for assistance. The pharmacist suggested that the physician prescribe a form of the same drug that came in chewable capsules.

Months later, the patient returned to her physician for a check up and the physician put her back on Cardizem without warning the patient not to chew the pills. The patient subsequently began to chew the pills, over time became weaker and died three weeks later.

This story reminds us of the need to carefully question our health care providers until we fully understand the dosage instructions that come along with our prescriptions. According to the patient’s family, she was a smart and alert woman, who just put too much faith in her providers’ instructions and failed to ask questions.

New York Pharmacies to Provide Foreign Language Prescription Instructions

January 30, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Maryland pharmacy error attorneys serve a number of clients who do not speak English as their first language. Some of these clients have raised the issue of not being able to receive prescriptions or dosage instructions written or spoken in their native languages from big box pharmacies. The attorneys at Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers believe that this shortcoming places a large number of citizens in danger of harmful pharmacy errors. According to the 2000 US Census, 667,357 Marylanders speak a language other than English in their homes.

As we discussed in an earlier post, Maryland pharmacists must provide medication counseling to patients when requested, and must provide written dosage instructions with prescriptions. Counseling and written instructions in English are useless to a pharmacy patient that has difficulty understanding the language.

Pharmacy Today reports that following an undercover investigation by New York Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, Rite Aide and CVS have agreed to provide medication instructions in languages other than English at their New York locations. The investigation began after reports that pharmacies failed to provide side effect information and drug interaction warnings in patients’ native language. New York Rite Aid and CVS locations will now provide dosage and side effect information to patients in Russian, Spanish, Chinese, Italian, French and Polish. The companies also agreed to provide assistance using an over the phone translation service.

Our attorneys believe that Maryland pharmacies should follow suit and help ensure that all patients fully understand their medication dosage instructions and other relevant information.

Medication Errors in Maryland Pharmacies May be Reduced with Periodic Brown Bag Check Ups

January 28, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In many of our earlier posts, we have discussed the threats posed by medication errors in Maryland pharmacies. The Maryland pharmacy error attorneys at Lebowitz & Mzhen, LLC suggest that our clients take an active role in their health care in order to prevent prescription errors. Consumers should get as much information about their medications as possible, direct questions about their medications to their doctors, nurses, and pharmacists, and persist until these questions are answered clearly and understandably.

Individuals with chronic medical conditions are at increased risk for prescription errors. These patients often receive a number of prescriptions bearing various dosage instructions from different physicians. Maryland medication error attorneys suggest that their clients, especially those with chronic conditions, schedule a “brown-bag check up” with their pharmacist and primary care doctor. During a brown bag check up a patient gathers all of their prescription and over the counter medications and has them reviewed by health care professionals for dangerous interactions. Additionally, the pharmacist or doctor ensures that the medications are labeled and filled correctly, double checks the prescribed dosage strengths, and screens the drugs for serious side effects.

Maryland medication error attorneys believe that pharmacy patients should take advantage of prescription counseling provided by pharmacists to help reduce their risk of injuries caused by pharmacy misfills. A brown bag check up may help prevent injuries caused by jumbled medication dosage instructions. Under complex medication regimes, it is easy for confusion to cause a potentially harmful medication error.