Finding
medication error
med·i·ca·tion er·ror
Subclass of:
Pharmacotherapy;
Medical Errors
Definitions related to medication error:
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An error associated with the prescribing, dispensing, or giving/taking a medication by a healthcare professional, patient, or consumer that causes or leads to inappropriate medication use or patient harm.NCI ThesaurusU.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
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Any unintentional error in the prescribing, dispensing or administration of a medicinal product while in the control of the healthcare professional, patient or consumer.CDISC TerminologyClinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC), 2021
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Errors in prescribing, dispensing, or administering medication with the result that the patient fails to receive the correct drug or the indicated proper drug dosage.NLM Medical Subject HeadingsU.S. National Library of Medicine, 2021
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Medicines treat infectious diseases, prevent problems from chronic diseases, and ease pain. But medicines can also cause harmful reactions if not used correctly. Errors can happen in the hospital, at the health care provider's office, at the pharmacy, or at home. You can help prevent errors by Knowing your medicines. When you get a prescription, ask the name of the medicine and check to make sure that the pharmacy gave you the right medicine. Make sure that you understand how often you should take the medicine and how long you should take it.; Keeping a list of medicines. Write down all of the medicines that you are taking, including the names of your medicines, how much you take, and when you take them. Make sure to include any over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, supplements, and herbs that you take.; List the medicines that you are allergic to or that have caused you problems in the past.; Take this list with you every time you see a health care provider. Reading medicine labels and following the directions. Don't just rely on your memory - read the medication label every time. Be especially careful when giving medicines to children.MedlinePlusU.S. National Library of Medicine, 2021
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Drug errors contribute to morbidity and mortality. They are estimated to cost the US health care system up to $177 billion (depending on definitions) annually. Drug errors may involve�Merck & Co., Inc., 2020
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