Abstract: Drug use is a complex process and there are many drug related challenges at various levels, involving prescribers, pharmacists and patients. While medication misadventure can occur any where in the health care system from prescribers to dispensing to administration and finally to patient use, the simple truth is that many errors are preventable, and pharmacists assume active role in appropriate use of drugs. Pharmacy entails a health science specialty which embodies the knowledge of pharmacology, toxicology, pharmacokinetics and therapeutics for the care of patients. Health care is nearly 10 years behind other industries in its efforts to reduce the errors. According to studies cited in the Institute of Medicine report, "To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System" 44,000 to 98,000 Americans die each year as a result of medical errors. Medication error may be nobody's baby, but when it happens, it could well turn out to be everyone's worry and the reasons given for medication error range from silly to the downright serious.
Medically inappropriate, ineffective and economically inefficient use of pharmaceuticals is commonly observed in the health care system throughout the world especially in the developing countries. Some of the errors though are serious & require attention. The medication error is not only clinically significant in many occasions; it has serious economic consequences like extended hospital stays, additional treatment and malpractice litigation.1,2. |
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