REPORT FINDS DRUG ERRORS HURT 1.5 MILLION YEARLY

This doesn't surprise me. I've been given wrong medications on two ocassions at the drug store. My daughter got the wrong meds once at a drug store. Fortunately, we knew what the drugs looked like and caught it. As much as we pay for drugs, you'd think they could get it right.
Remember the drug addict pharmacist on that comedy show that was on Friday nights....Take Another Pilllll....what show was that???? Way back when.

(07-20) 08:18 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --


More than 1.5 million Americans are injured every year by drug errors in hospitals, nursing homes and doctor's offices, a count that doesn't even estimate patients' own medication mix-ups, says a report that calls for major steps to increase patient safety.


Topping that list: All prescriptions should be written electronically by 2010, the Institute of Medicine said. At least a quarter of all medication-related injuries are preventable, the institute concluded in the report it released Thursday.


Perhaps the most stunning finding of the report was that, on average, a hospitalized patient is subject to at least one medication error per day, despite intense efforts to improve hospital care in the six years since the institute began focusing attention on medical mistakes of all kinds.

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