Are pill-counting tools to blame for pharmacy errors?
A: No matter how many technological advances are used to decrease pharmacy medication mistakes, all drugs must be touched by human hands at least once. Unfortunately, there is plenty of opportunity for an error to occur as medications are removed and counted by a member of the pharmacy staff.
A few common pill-counting mistakes:
The tech chooses a look-alike or sound-alike drug. In these cases, a tech usually misreads the drug name and fills one with a similar spelling, or two similarly-named drugs are placed near each other on a pharmacy shelf and the tech does not confirm which is needed.
The tech chooses the right drug, but in the wrong dosage or wrong amount. Many pharmacies still manually count pill strength and dosage from large, factory-sized bottles. Since there are many different numbers on a label, number switches may occur (such as “three times” may easily be miscounted as “three pills,” and so on).
Although many pharmacies have adopted automated dispensing units or barcode scanning systems to ensure each patient receives the right medication in the right dose, there are still many ways for mistakes to fall through the cracks. It is important to always double-check your medications yourself before taking them, and to get the advice of an experienced prescription drug injury lawyer if you believe a pharmacist’s mistake caused your suffering.
To learn more about getting compensation for your drug-related injury, order our FREE guide, How to Make Pharmacies Pay for your Injuries Caused by Medication Errors, by clicking the link at the top of the page. You can also call Kennedy Hodges toll-free at 888-526-7616 to start your free consultation today.
