Medical errors can be deadly. With billions of prescriptions filled in the U.S. every year, mistakes do happen. The state is taking steps to prevent this from happening in the future.
Medical errors can be deadly but with billions of prescriptions filled in the us every year mistakes do happen tonight in segment two 2 news reporter marla carter investigates the problem and what action the state of oklahoma is taking medicine that’s just what martha coke thought her daughter caylee needed she was complaining about a sore throat and her younger
Sister had strep throat so i took her to the doctor and they give her a prescription for an antibiotic cough syrup that martha noticed ran out quickly for her eight-year-old daughter i was like mom look at this it’s gone and she started reading the directions it was labeled give kaylee one and a quarter teaspoon by mouth three times daily it should have been give
One and a quarter teaspoon by mouth once daily for three days she immediately called the pharmacist his exact words were oh crap we labeled it wrong and i started freaking oh my god you labeled it wrong on average oklahoma pharmacists feel more than a hundred thousand prescriptions a day the wrong prescription is called a miss fill and the state pharmacy board
Says they happen for several reasons and writing errors transcription errors a substitution error based upon a a prescription again with with the name that’s that’s very close called in prescriptions you can misunderstand on the phone another concern is when prescriptions sound similar like this one’s called metaxalone this one’s called matala zone very similar
Names but two very different drugs this one is a water pill this one is a muscle relaxer one way to prevent that from happening you will try to isolate those products you’ll put something between them you’ll put a sign up in front of it that says please check and there are other measures pharmacies take to prevent miss fields like changing the font or lettering for
Certain medications and when it comes to giving the wrong dose like in kaylee’s case there’s a plan to prevent it many of the recommendations that have come out is for physicians and pharmacists to put the dose only in milliliters and to-dos things in milligrams per kilograms but the board says if the medicine is something you’re not used to taking double-check
Know what the reason the medication is being prescribed for example if the physician were to write for pain or for infection or for cough that is a very good way for pharmacists and patients to understand and know exactly what the medication is 4 plus foul says always ask the pharmacist if you have any questions still even with those safety measures in place med
Mix ups like kaylee’s still happen when they do you can file a complaint with a state board of pharmacy which then investigates and takes action when needed everything from revocation of a license down to requiring additional continuing education good girl as for kayleigh she’s now back in the game but was ill for almost two weeks after taking the cough syrup and
While she’s healthy now her family is still coping she’s still kind of leery on taking even tylenol and it’s very upsetting marla carter to newsworks for you from january to late may of this year foul says the state pharmacy board received six complaints regarding miss fills he does admit it’s likely that not all of them are reported
Transcribed from video
Segment 2: RX Mistakes By BartlesvilleLIVE
