In the article FDA 101: Medication Errors, a medication is any error that is preventable that may cause or lead to incorrect medication use or harm. MedWatch is the error reporting program where any physician, pharmacist, pharmacy technician, other medical personnel and the general public can voluntarily submit a medication adverse event or error. Since the year 2000, 95,000 reports of medication errors have been reported to MedWatch.1 The FDA has partnered with the U.S. Pharmacopeia and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices to track medication errors, the USP/ISMP has its own Voluntary Medication Error Reporting Program (MERP).1 All errors received through MERP are sent directly to MedWatch. Through these programs they monitor errors and evaluate them, to educate the public about approaches to prevent these errors in the future. …show more content…
Nurses use the 5 rights: The Right time, the Right patient, the Right drug, the Right route, the Right strength, to help prevent errors. Orders should be read three times before selecting a drug, to avoid an error. The FDA says that most medication errors occur because of multiple and complex factors.1
In 2008, the misuse of the prescription drug Tussionex Pennkinetic Extended-Release Suspension. This cough syrup caused adverse events and deaths of children and adults. This was due to an overdose of hydrocodone, a narcotic drug that can cause severe breathing problems. When a prescriber ordered too much hydrocodone for a cough to be taken at once or more frequently than recommended the results were adverse. The cough medicine was also prescribed to children under the age of 6, even though it was listed as not for use in children under the age of