PRESCRIPTION MEDICATION ERRORS: Errors in prescribing, dispensing, and taking medications lead to many people in the United States being sickened, injured, or killed each year. On top of being harmful, prescription medication errors are also very costly with an estimated 3.5 billion dollars spent on treating drug related injuries in hospitals alone. The problem is so widespread, but little is done to help prevent these errors from occurring even though at least a quarter of the injuries caused by medication errors are clearly preventable. Some believe the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA have not done enough to make drug information accessible to consumers and make drug packaging as error-proof as possible. Hospitals and nursing homes are some of the worst when it comes to medication errors and many times the patients and their families are not even notified an error was made unless it results in injury or death. (Source: www.washingtonpost.com) 

WARNING LABELS: Warning labels on prescription medication bottles provide important information on whether food or water needs to be taken with the medication, if the pills should not be crushed, whether it is safe to perform certain activities while on the medication, and so on. Other than the colorful warning labels on the back or side of bottles, package inserts also describe all side effects and warnings. Pharmacists add one page consumer studies with the same information. There are some concerns that people rely solely on the stickers rather than taking the time to read the insert or consumer studies. This has not yet shown to be a problem, but many adults with a 7^th grade reading skill or lower misinterpret the warnings because of the pictures accompanying the written warnings on the sticker labels which could possible lead to issues in the future. (Source: www.nytimes.com)

OTHER SOLUTIONS: Suggestions on how to reduce the risk of medication errors are varied. Here are a few:  

• Dispense medications in blister packs that make it easier for patients to identify them and for consumers to remember they have taken that day’s dosage.
• Electronic prescribing to avoid mistakes with doctor’s illegible handwriting.
• Hospitals and nursing homes create a standardized bar-coding system for checking and dispensing drugs.
• And the most obvious suggestion: patients should make more of an effort to read all the labels and know about the risks of the drugs they take. 

(Source: www.washingtonpost.com)