By Fortune Alabi, MD, FCCP, MBA
As published in the Spring-Summer Issue of CMD Magazine
Under the Title: Patient Responsibility in the prevention of Medication Errors 

Preventable medical errors have become the 3rd leading cause of death in the United States, with approximately 440,000 deaths each year. Simply stated, 1 in 7 patients will experience a medical error during the course of their hospitalization. But medical errors can occur anywhere in the healthcare system: in hospitals, clinics, surgical centers, doctors’ offices, nursing homes, pharmacies, and patients’ homes. Medication errors are a type of medical error, involving an error at any step along the pathway that begins when a clinician prescribes a medication and ends when the patient actually receives the medication. Patients have the ability to drastically reduce this type of medical error by becoming advocates in their care.

Historical views of the patient-physician relationship assume that the physician’s role is to act in the best interest of the patient and to direct care and make decisions about treatment on the behalf of the patients.

This paternalistic model of medicine, in which patients have little voice in their care, has evolved into a model in which patients and physicians work in partnership toward the common goal of improved care and reduction of medical errors. For this new model to be successful, and to ensure that patients are partners in decision-making about their management, the patient needs to be more engaged and involved in their care.

All patients are at risk of medical errors, but the patients that meet the following characteristics are particularly more susceptible to medical errors:

  • Those taking multiple prescribed medications
  • Those that have more than 2 physicians in addition to their primary care doctor
  • Those with dysfunction in 2 or more organ systems
  • Those with poor knowledge of their medications and/or what the medicine is prescribed for

What can you do to reduce medical errors?

✓ Make sure that all your doctors know about every medicine you are taking

✓ Bring all of your medicine and supplements to your doctor’s office

✓ Make sure you know why you are taking all your medicine and check during every visit if the medicine is still needed

✓ Ask your doctors to share their office notes with all the clinicians that you are currently seeing

✓ Bring a notepad to your visit and write down your diagnosis and treatment plan

✓ Review the care plan given to you at your doctor’s office to ensure accuracy of the medication list and problem list generated

✓ Make sure your doctor knows about any allergies and adverse reactions you have had to medicine

✓ Go to your appointment with family members if you have problem with memory loss

✓ Know that more is not always better. Always check if all the requested tests are necessary

✓ Learn more about your condition and treatments so that you can ask useful questions during your visits

✓ Most importantly, speak out if you have questions or concerns

“All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride.”— Sophocles, Antigone”