Over the years, I have suggested a number of strategies to prevent or at least reduce the risk that you will be the victim of medical malpractice. There is one form of malpractice, however, that is very difficult to prevent. It is the risk of a medication error while you are in the hospital.
Hospitals are complicated places. Patients are constantly coming in and leaving. Nurses are constantly coming on and off shift. Many medical specialists may play a role in the care of a single patient. All of these health care providers must communicate with each other in a clear and accurate manner to prevent medical errors. The most common medical error which occurs in hospitals is the medication error. It is no wonder. There is probably not a patient in the hospital who is not administered some form of medication during their stay. That is a lot of patients and a lot of medication. Some studies have found that 6 out of 100 hospitalizations involve a medication error and that 1% of those errors result in death.
You can do some things to reduce the risk of a medication error and I have discussed them in the past. Make sure you know what medications you take at home and in what dosages. You should always have a list of these with you and take it to the hospital. Make sure you receive these medications and in the correct doses while you are hospitalized. Sometimes a home medication must be discontinued because it may interact with a medication you are being administered in the hospital. If this happens, fine, but be sure you know the reason you are not getting your home medication. Don’t take a medication you brought from home as it may interact badly with something the doctors have ordered for you in the hospital.
Ask the nurse to confirm that the medication he or she is offering you is actually intended for you. There may be other people in the hospital with the same or similar names. It never hurts to check.
Always ask what medication you are being offered and why. Make sure that it was prescribed for you by one of the doctors participating in your care.
In order to be effective and to avoid injury, medications need to be given to the right patient, in the right dose, at the right time and by the right method of administration. Unfortunately, there are many people involved in getting a medication to you that you never see and never get a chance to speak to. These people can make mistakes that harm you and there is nothing you can do to prevent it.
Let’s see what happens when a doctor orders a medication.
First, someone has to enter the doctor’s order into your record. This order has to be entered in a timely fashion and must be accurate. Lots of room for mistakes here.
Next, the order is transmitted to the hospital pharmacy, where a technician must fill the order. Lots of pills look alike and many have confusing, similar sounding names. Mistakes can and do happen at this stage. The medication is set aside to be taken to your floor.
An orderly takes the medications to the floor where they are distributed or administered by the nurse. The nurse, despite her best efforts, may get the medications mixed up or may not notice that what comes up from the pharmacy is not the right medication for you or is not the correct dose. The medication may come up late or early or not at all.
The bottom line is that we all take a leap of faith when we enter the hospital. We have to trust that the people caring for us have our best interests at heart and are trying to do the best job they can. Unfortunately, the people who work at hospitals are people. They have families, bills to pay, and all the concerns and distractions the rest of us have. To expect them to leave all of these problems and concerns at the door when they report to work is not realistic. Mistakes will be made. Do what you can to reduce the likelihood that you will be injured by a medication error and, after that, say a prayer, because that is pretty much the only recourse you have left.
