Medication Errors Are Preventable

The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCC MERP) defines a "medication error" as "any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care professional, patient, or consumer. At many occasions a medication error can be caught or is rectified before its administration, thereby preventing harm to patient. This is referred as near miss medication error. Medication errors are broadly classified into prescription error, dispensing error and administration errors. And these errors have significant epidemiological as well as financial burden on healthcare infrastructure. Behavioural sensitization of the involved healthcare professionals can play a vital role in prevention of these medication errors. Also, initiatives at the administrative level of healthcare systems, especially with the implementation of technological tools like computerized physician order entry, barcoding etc. are proving to be a positive steps towards controlling this menace.