Since the release of the landmark Institute of Medicine study in 1999 , the incidence of medical errors has become a vital issue in the medical profession. According to a published report of the institute, preventable medical errors account for as many as 98,000 patient deaths per year while medication errors alone caused up to 7000 of those fatalities. The medication errors are caused by mistakes in prescribing, dosing, and administration, both in inpatient and outpatient settings.
According to a research conducted by Harvard School of Public Health , 12 of 100 patients admitted to the hospital experienced an adverse drug event that could have been prevented. In another study on medication prescription, more than 30% of all handwritten prescriptions contained a mistake of some type that required deciphering and correcting by a clinician. Some of the effective guidelines and…
