<nobr>Jul 24, 2006</nobr>

Cost of Medication Errors Exceeds $3.5 Billion Annually

Medication errors injure more than 1.5 million Americans every year at a cost surpassing $3.5 billion, according to a report issued July 20 by the National Academies' Institute of Medicine. The report estimates that the average hospital patient is subject to one medication error per day.

Errors, according to the report, are caused by widespread communication problems among medical personnel, drug companies and patients. Among them:

· Patients sometimes receive the wrong drugs when doctors' indecipherable handwriting befuddles pharmacists - or when drugs with similar packages confuse nurses.
· Without accurate information from patients and drug manufacturers, doctors can prescribe medicines that interact badly with other drugs a patient is taking.
· At home, patients take drugs improperly because they did not ask doctors or pharmacists for a clarification. And drug instruction pamphlets are difficult for many patients to understand.

Yesterday's study was the latest in a series of Institute of Medicine research projects designed to assess and prevent medical errors in the American health care system. IOM's first report, in 1999, created a public uproar with its estimate that as many as 98,000 people a year die as a result of medical errors. It attributed 7,000 of those deaths to medication errors, and yesterday's report concluded that the problem is still widespread.

The authors suggested ways to correct medication problems, including better drug packaging, with clearer instructions, and a switch to electronic prescription systems by 2010. They also advised patients to be more aggressive in dealing with their doctors and pharmacists.

The report calls for the nation to spend $100 million annually on research into the causes and prevention of medication errors.

Text Files:

IOM Report

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