Every year there are errors in the prescription of medications, which have fatal consequences for health and are also the source of extremely high costs for healthcare organizations.
One of these failures occurred recently in Denver, when a newborn baby died after being administered an intravenous dose of medication ten times higher than what it was prescribed.
In that case the error was the result of a series of failures: the administration of an unnecessary medication, an illegible prescription, the failure to double check a medical order by a pharmacist, poor labeling in the pharmacy and the inexperience of the pharmacy and nursing staff in using the medication in question, i.e.: a chain of avoidable errors.
When it comes to the prescription of medications, these errors do not just have consequences for patients but also lead to significant costs for major healthcare systems.
In fact, according to data from the Center for Disease Control in the USA (CDC USA) this year in the United States there were 700,000 visits to the emergency room due to adverse interactions between medications of which 120,000 required hospital admission at a cost of 3.5 billion dollars.
However, the data from other regions is not any better. For example, a study carried out by the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom calculated that approximately 60 patients die every day due to an error with the medication prescribed; in New Zealand the Ministry of Health estimates that every year almost 5000 patients suffer from errors in medication. Of these patients, around 150 die and more than 400 suffer from a permanent disability.
Similarly, going back to Europe, in Spain, according to a study by the Ministry of Health into adverse reactions to medication, 9.3% of hospital stays are due to serious adverse effects, with medication errors being the most prominent of these – over 30% of the total.
Different organizations have set up a series of protocols to avoid errors in the prescription of medications. The General Health Council of Mexico, for example, recommends that for a proper pharmaco-vigilance system , the M.M.U 5.1 Standard set by the Joint Commission for Mexico D.F., referring to Medication Management and Use, should be followed.
This process includes the evaluation of:
a) the suitability of the drug, dose, frequency and administration method
b) therapeutic duplication
c) allergies or sensibilities
d) real or potential interactions between medications or foods
e) variation with regard to the criteria for use of the medication in the hospital
f) the weight of the patient and other physiological information
g) other side-effects.
Available tools
Today, we generally make use of official sources to consult pharmacological information. In Mexico, the application of the Basic Medication Framework (CBM) and the Public Federal Administration Supply Catalogue has created a single system for the classification and codification of healthcare supplies, which has contributed to homogenizing the acquisition policies of the public federal institutions in the National Health System.
But in addition to official sources, there are other ways of accessing clinical information and pharmacological references; several different websites and also pharmacological databases that can be integrated into information systems.
The problem here is that there are very few global actors who index and connect healthcare/pharmacological information and even fewer that do so in Spanish and with ‘non-FDA’ pharmacopeias.
And it is to guarantee safe drug prescriptions, and avoid errors and adverse reactions to medications that it becomes necessary to have databases that contain, simultaneously, clinical information and official local information in a standardized environment with indexed, codified and up to date information that can be interconnected with tools.
