Pharmacists are incredibly busy. You remember what it is like to “run” into the pharmacies to “grab” your prescription? There just isn’t any running to it anymore and the grabbing is a thing of the past. The norm now-a-days is easily a half hour to a full hour wait.
Pharmacists are multi-tasking; they may have half a dozen people waiting for their medications, people calling on the telephone with questions, and customers walking up to ask about over-the-counter medicines.
They do have some help, there are technicians who prepare the medicine labels (still another area of error potential) and bottles and work the cash register and that is needed help but actually those people too will need some additional direction or a little help, adding one more interruption into the mix.
With all the activity, it’s no wonder that a mistake could be made. It’s completely understandable, but a mistake could cause serious, sometimes really serious problems.
You need to consider, plan and make a habit of things you can do to add an additional layer of stay safe checks to your side of the process.
• Take personal responsibility for your prescription. Know what the doctor ordered, what the dosage is and what effect you should notice.
• When you are with your Doctor ask him/her to read the prescription to you and spell it out. Write down the name of the medication, the strength and the dosage.
• Each time you have the prescription filled or refilled, check to see if it’s the right medicine, the right strength and the right dosage instructions.
• Look; does it look the same as before, are there any changes in the visual, and do you recognize the medication as before?
• Ask; this is not a time to be timid. If anything is different, ask about it.
If you have any questions, see the pharmacist before you leave the store.
Prescription medication is now a very common part of our lives, whether they are given for treatment of a long term medical condition or simply a course of antibiotics to treat an infection.
One in three prescriptions has some kind of error (according to research by Ken Lee, How Safe is Your Prescription) and about 3% of all hospital admissions are related to problems with medications. Pharmacy malpractice statistics show more deaths related to prescription errors annually than breast cancer, AIDS, or traffic fatalities and few people are even aware of the error (malpractice) statistics that exist on record.
So, how do these statistics affect you? Well first, they probably shock you. They should also make you aware that you could suffer injury because of a prescription error and that you need to play a significant role in your prescription safety. Plan safe checks for your prescriptions and their refills; help yourself so you do not become one of the statistics.

