The Last Line of Defense Against Medication Errors by Timothy McNamara, MD, MPH

In fact, you need to become the final line of defense in the battle against medication errors.

Throughout, we are going to give you some key rules that should guide your defense.

So, Rule Number 1. Trust, but verify. Never assume that the medication you have received is the right medication for you or that it is dosed correctly for you. Specifically, you should check:

•the name of the patient on the bottle;

•the name of the doctor on the bottle;

•the name of the medication (and cross check it to be sure that it treats a disease or problem you actually have…there are lots of look-alike/sound-alike drug names out there);

•the dose (from an independent source…to make sure that it is a plausible dose for you);

•the “route” (to make sure, for example, that eye drops are being prescribed for the eye, and not the mouth, or the ear…amazingly injuries from drug misplacement occur all the time);

•the expiration date.

We’ll talk about some specific resources that will help with each of these throughout this series.

The result, we hope, will be the piece of mind to know that you and your family are getting your 7 rights:

•right drug;

•right patient;

•right dose;

•right time;

•right route;

•right reason;

•right documentation.

Right on!

© 2004 Timothy McNamara, MD, MPH

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BIO:

Timothy McNamara, MD, MPH is a nationally prominent expert in medication safety and healthcare technology. For additional practical steps you can take to improve medication safety and a personalized report of your medication profile, go to: http://www.medicationadvisor.com/art1.asp.

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