Medication Errors

Going under the knife is scary enough. Now there’s more stress about: A new study surgery patient face a higher risk of harmful medication mix-ups than hospital patients overall. Five percent of patients who were prepping for, undergoing, or recovering from an operating experienced medication errors that resulted in physical or mental impairment, pain, or death between 1998 and 2006, according to study published in early March by US Pharmacopoeia, which sets industry drug quality standards.

A study has revealed that antibiotics and painkillers are the most commonly misused drugs for patients involved in surgery. This is because hospital personnel give the wrong dose or gave the drug at the wrong time or omitted it altogether, among other reasons.

In contrast, the analysis of 11000 medication errors at more than 500 facilities in the United States found a medication errors rate of just 1.6% for other hospital patients. Kids in for surgery fared the worst, with 12% rate.

That’s not surprise, says Diane Cousins, vice president of health care quality information for USP and one o the study’s authors. “Either one or both of those drugs is used virtually every surgery,” she says.

Lack of coordination between the departments that patients are transported through-from pre-op to recovery-sets the stage for medication errors, say study author.

To avoid becoming a drug error statistics, bring a complete list of your prescription and over-the-counter meds with you to the hospital, inform surgical staff of any drug or food allergies, and make sure your medical chart travels with you to the OR and back.