Editing question

[potioncat]

 "Catlady :
>

> 
> All I know is from the Main Stream Media, but it seems to me that person prescribing the medication has some responsibility not to prescribe 1000 times the normal dose just by accident and not to prescribe a medication that he knows the patient is allergic to.
> 
> And the pharmacist or pharmacy technician has some responsibility to question a prescription for 1000 times the normal dose or for a medication to which he knows the patient is allergic, and generally to fill the prescription correctly (don't put two patient's pills in each other's pill bottles). 
> 
> And the person who puts the medication into the patient or hands the medication to a patient and stands guard while the patient takes it has some responsibility not to hand the patient a cup of Drano instead of a cup of what the pharmacy sent. 
> 
> Aren't all of those medication errors?


Potioncat, RN
Well, yes. All of those are medication errors. And there are about a gazillion other ways for errors to happen. If the MD makes an error in writing the order and neither the pharmacist nor the nurse catch it, they are all legally responsible. But the person who hands the med to the patient is just as responsible as the one who ordered it.

Something as obvious as a cup of Drano instead of a cup of OJ with Metamucil isn't likely to happen. But there have been cases where two different versions of a medication are difficult to tell apart which have caused serious problems. The person(s) who handed out the wrong one is at fault, but it led to a re-packaging of the two medications by the manufactorer.

Hospital nursing services have policies that serve as checks and balances to (hoepfully) prevent errors--counting the meds in the medication cart, having a second nurse read the MD's orders for example.

I think the article concerned nursing homes, or home health. In those cases you may not have a professional dispensing meds--but rather an aide or elderly spouse. Some pharmacies now provide bottles with large print and color coded caps make identifying the meds easier.

Potioncat, very glad that she no longer has to hand out meds.