Thank you for the article (July 21) on drug errors. The millions of
hospital injuries and billions in costs do not include the much
greater issue of doctor/pharmacist/patient error.
In comparing doses, the article erroneously stated, "10 milligrams or
10 migrams." The article was in error. The corrected comparison would
be for "10 milligrams or 10 micrograms." An error like this clearly
indicates the folly of expecting patients to be "aggressive in
questioning" their doctors about dosages. Doctors have specialized
knowledge.
Doctors and pharmacists fill hundreds of prescriptions every day. We
can expect excellence, but not perfection. As the rate of
prescriptions goes up, so do the errors.
If a third of Americans are on five or more medications, then they are
at risk of injury due to drug interaction -- even if the prescription
is perfect. We do not have longterm research on drug interactions.
Recent longterm research about asthma and pain medications alone
showed that both decrease patient life span.
Patients can be aggressive about coming off unnecessary medication. If
a medication doesn't help, it needs to be changed. Doctors usually add
a new medication and leave the older one. Coming off any medication is
risky, so it is easier to continue both. If the patient does not bring
up decreasing medication, a doctor will assume that things are going
well. Tapering off non-working medication with a doctor's help is the
simplest way to avoid future prescription errors.
Labels: No Prescription, Online Pharmacy, Prescription Drugs
# posted by Network @ 9:59 AM
