How to Protect Yourself From Medication Errors

Sun. Mar. 15 2009

Angela Mulholland, CTV.ca News Staff

Each year, about 422 million prescriptions are filled in Canada. And each year, countless Canadians are sent to hospital because of problems with these prescriptions.

A study published this past summer in the Canadian Medical Association Journal estimated that more than one in nine of all emergency room visits are medication-related.

Many of the times, the patients are at fault because they skipped doses or ignored warnings on the label. But often, the patient has done everything right; they've simply been the victim of a prescribing error.

Somewhere between a doctor writing a prescription and a patient receiving it, errors can be made with incorrect drug selection, dosage errors, bad medication combinations, or communication problems with the pharmacy. More...

PainCareMD