Pharmacists and the professionals who assist them must complete mandatory educational requirements. They are subject to strict oversight given their access to controlled substances and the potential for mistakes to cause harm to patients. For example, the law limits how many assistants or technicians a single pharmacist can oversee.
There are also reporting requirements for pharmacists who dispense certain controlled substances. Despite all of the regulatory oversight of pharmacies and the professionals who work there, mistakes when dispensing drugs are still a relatively common issue. Patients who experience pharmacy errors may suffer a variety of negative outcomes. Their treatment may not succeed because of a mistake, or they might have adverse reactions to a medication, ranging from drug interactions to overdoses.
How common are pharmacy errors that cause noteworthy medical consequences or death for patients?
Pharmacy errors affect hundreds of thousands of people annually
It can be very difficult to pinpoint the exact number of pharmacy errors that occur. Many times, neither patients nor the pharmaceutical professionals serving them recognize that an error occurred. However, in the worst cases, it may be possible to establish that a pharmaceutical professional made a mistake that had a negative impact on a patient.
According to a thorough analysis of medication errors in the United States, mistakes when dispensing drugs cause between 7,000 and 9,000 deaths every year. For every one fatality, there are multiple other cases where patients may experience negative outcomes. Statistics show that approximately 530,000 patients taking medication every year may end up sickened or temporarily hospitalized because of errors in the pharmacy.
Others may have adverse reactions that diminish the effectiveness of treatment or force them to take time off of work. Technically, drug dissenting errors are less common than administration errors in medical settings or mistakes made at the prescribing stage. However, people shouldn’t ignore the potential of a pharmacist or a technician making mistakes that have life-altering consequences for a patient.
Those harmed by professional negligence at a pharmacy may have grounds to take legal action. Holding specific professionals or companies responsible for unsafe practices can help diminish the harm caused by pharmacy errors.
