Pharmacy errors and technology
Even though hospitals are increasingly relying on robotics to reduce medication errors, in the case of the Corpus Christi death of twin infants, the systems available would not have prevented the pharmacy error. That's because many of the systems are confined to dispensing pills and cannot dispense liquids such as the blood thinner heparin, according to industry authorities. How effective can technology be in preventing the same tragedy from happening? Studies of rates of human error in hospital pharmacies vary anywhere from 3 errors in a thousand to 55 per thousand. Machine rates have about one in 10,000. About 51 percent of insured Americans are taking prescription drugs to treat at least one chronic condition according to a study by Medco Health Solutions. In crunching the numbers that amounts to hundreds of millions of prescriptions filled each year so the chances of a pharmacy error are inevitable. Some say that while technology may reduce prescription errors, the systems remain susceptible to human error, such as inputting the wrong patient information into a computer. Human diligence, quality control and responsibility need to be increased to limit future injuries ascribed to pharmacy errors, technology can’t be the only answer.
