Pharmacists, Mistakes & You

Yesterday, I encountered a problem with one of my daughters medications. Since November of 2010, she has been taking an anti-inflammatory as well as a vitamin E for a form of arthritis she has in one knee. She takes these pills twice a day, everyday. This means that her pills should run out at the same time. This brings me to yesterday morning, when as she took a pill from each of the bottles, she noticed that something was wrong. One bottle contained 40 pills, while the other only contained 10. This was not the first time this has happened to us. About a year back, my husband only received half the pills he should have gotten for his high blood pressure. Back then, I thought that it was an honest mistake, and thought nothing more of it.

Okay, shoes go on, coat goes on, and off I go, heading out to the pharmacy where I had them filled. I brought both bottles with me, walked in, and explained the situation. The first question from the technician was, did I count the pills when I picked them up? Huh? No. I was under the impression that my prescriptions were filled by professionals who have provisions and guidelines that are strictly followed. I take for granted that I am getting the correct amount and the correct dosage when I pick them up. I was also informed that vitamin E can be purchased over the counter. I'll be honest, I was a little miffed about this comment, as when I picked up her prescription, I paid for 60 pills, and received only half of what I paid for. Instead of going into a flying rage, like I was picturing in my head, I simply smiled, and replied, "Well, I paid for 60, and only received 30. I would like the additional 30 that I paid for back on December 27th." Ironically, she proceeded to walk over to the vitamin aisle, opened a bottle of vitamin E, and placed 30 additional pills into my daughters prescription bottle.

Which brings me to my next observation. As I waited for my prescriptions back, I stood there and watched several customers blindly picking up their prescriptions, pay for them and walk away. I wondered how many of those people were getting what they paid for, or getting what was prescribed to them. When I arrived back home, I immediately jumped on the Internet, and looked for pharmaceutical mistake statistics. Not that I am a hypochondriac, but to find the facts. The facts that tell me, it's not just me. The facts that tell me that this is a bigger problem than one would imagine, and here are just two shocking facts:

♦ When researchers analyzed 9,846 prescriptions filled at a large hospital's outpatient pharmacy in Springfield, New Jersey, for example, they found 1,371 mistakes, ranging from bottles containing the wrong pills or the wrong dosage to labeling errors. In other words, mistakes were made in roughly one in eight of the prescriptions.

♦ Many pharmacy errors, of course, go undetected. US Pharmacopeia's Medication Errors Reporting Program received 90,000 reports of pharmacy errors in 2003 – nearly 40 percent of which were attributed to “performance deficit.” But a 2007 report from researchers at Ohio State University estimated 5.7 errors per 10,000 prescriptions, or 2.2 million dispensing errors a year.

These facts, got my brain moving into overdrive. I thought of ways to be proactive in my own life when I'm dealing with prescriptions for myself and my family. Here are a few items that I came up with yesterday.

♦ When you receive a prescription from your doctor, take a photo of that paper, make sure you can read what dosage the doctor is prescribing. Verify this against the actual bottle once you have it filled. If you can't read the prescription pad, ASK the doctor.

♦ Purchase a pill identification booklet, this booklet will give you the generic names of the brand name pill you were prescribed.

♦ Ask bi annually for a list of all open medications that are on hand in your pharmacy's database for your family. If a doctor changes your prescription and you still have additional refills on your original medication, make sure your original prescription is taken out of the active list.

♦ When picking up your pills, you have every right to request the pills be counted again. Or you can walk over to the consultation booth, open your bottles, and count them yourself, before you even leave the building. If there is a quantity issue, you are right there and can ask.

Lastly, you are your biggest advocate. You must take an active role in making sure you are getting not only what you pay for, but what is actually being put inside your prescription bottles. If you're being issued multiple prescriptions by different doctors, you should be asking the pharmacist if there are any possible drug interactions with your current medications.

We'd love to hear your thoughts. Have you ever had a dispensing error at your pharmacy? What do you do, to ensure you're getting what was prescribed to you?