June 04, 2010 01:41am EST 

The Institute of Medicine’s July 2006 report showed that medication errors harm an estimated 1.5 million people in the United States each year, costing nearly $3.5 billion in unnecessary hospital costs. The statistics are staggering — each hospital patient may be victim to one medication error each day.
A wrong prescription or misunderstanding can lead to patients taking a medication that is not necessary, and potentially harmful. The problem for hospitals is that medication errors are largely preventable, and should not pose such a significant problem.
There are over 40,000 different medication names in hospitals around the United States, a number that continues to grow. As there are only so many combinations of names possible, it comes as no surprise that many hospital drugs have similar names. Furthermore, hand-written prescriptions or abbreviations can also pose problems in medication. In this case, the patient should be the first priority. Hospitals should reduce the amount of changes made to the patient’s clinical status or patient transfers to other hospitals or hospital areas gives another opportunity for misinterpretations.
Here are some practical tips that every hospital can take to improve medication safety, as given by Joint Commission Resources medication safety practice leader, Jeannell Mansur:
Better Communication: The most important thing to reducing medication errors is increased communication with patients. Open communication allows patients to be advocates for their own health, especially in hospital settings. Hospitals should aim to encourage patients to be actively engaged in their own health care.
Keeping Records: It is also important for hospitals to maintain a record of patients’ medications and to discuss any over-the-counter or vitamins that he or she takes. It is critical for physicians to know in detail what the patient takes at home to avoid circumstances when a medication may need additional monitoring.
Involving the Pharmacist: Since the hospital pharmacist is responsible for dispensing prescription medication, it can be very beneficial to involve him or her more actively in patient care. The hospital pharmacist can provide education to patients about the medications they take, or make recommendations on medication changes.
Double-Check: Hospital medication systems should detect the error as quickly as possible. Double-checking medication, especially those that are high-risk in hospitals, can prevent the possibility of many errors. An independent double-check, or a second person going through the whole process, was found to detect approximately 95 percent of errors.
Hospitals should keep these four medication safety tips in mind at all times. Medication errors in hospitals remain one of the most preventable causes of death and excess spending in all of health care. The increased communication between patients, physicians, and pharmacists can reduce medication errors. Additionally, hospitals and their leaders should encourage increased teamwork and open communication between hospital workers. With a collaborative effort, there is no reason that medication errors should not go down. The increase of awareness surrounding patient safety has led to the realization that hospitals can take small steps to increase the quality of health care offered to their patients.