Prescription Errors
No one counts pharmacy errors. There are no comprehensive accounts on prescription errors. Many go undetected or unreported. No federal agency tracks them. On the State level, where pharmacy boards monitors pharmacies and pharmacists, only North Carolina requires that all significant errors be reported.
Academic studies offer rough estimates of the incidents of errors. A pharmacy that fills 250 prescriptions per day makes about 4 errors daily, according to a study posted by Auburn University researchers.
A 2001 survey with more than 2,800 pharmacists by Texas Tech researchers found that 34% suggested that at least one of their patients per week was at risk for a mistake. According to the Auburn study, that would amount to 3.7 million each year based on the 2006 national prescription volume.
Corporate policies such as allowing or encouraging pharmacists to fill hundreds of prescriptions daily and rewarding fast work, can contribute to these errors. Large corporations are more concerned about an emphasis on speed and the reliance of technicians than accuracy. They provide financial bonuses to pharmacists for increasing prescription volumes per shift.
If you have received the incorrect or wrong medicine, please give us a call so we can help evaluate your claim.