Military Medication Errors: NCBI Study Discusses Causes of Medication Errors
NCBI reported data relating to causes of medication errors in the US
US Medication Error Statistics
According to NCBI, the National Center for Biotechnology Information, 7,000 to 9,000 people die each year in the United States as a result of medication errors. Nearly 75% of these medication errors can be attributed to health care providers being distracted. Most hospitals have put into place measures to combat distractions, such as having physicians order drugs at a set time after rounding on their patients and writing daily progress notes, at a time when they are only to be disturbed for emergencies. Some healthcare institutions have implemented policies to penalize physicians who continue to have too many medication errors because of distractions by limiting their prescribing privileges.
NCBI lists some causes of medication errors related to employees:
- Negligence
- Forgetfulness
- Hurrying
- Poor motivation
- Vengeance
- Carelessness
NCBI goes on to report that while many medication errors are caused by individual health care workers and employees, they are also the result of a systemic problem. Hospitals should focus on approaching the problem by introducing barriers and safeguards at every level so that mistakes can be caught before the medications are given to a patient and recurrent patterns of medication error can be fixed. In turn, healthcare works can reduce errors by becoming more cautious and having direct communication with other practitioners, pharmacists, and patients.
Military Medication Errors
Medication errors can occur at military health facilities, for the reasons listed above. Military medical malpractice litigation is a niche area of the law. Ourattorneys have experience with military medical malpractice cases brought under both the MCA (Military Claims Act) and FTCA (Federal Tort Claims Act). A founding partner of Military Medical Malpractice Attorneys, Bruce J. Klores has recovered over 40 million dollars for military families and Scott Perry, another founding partner of Military Medical Malpractice Attorneys, has obtained 46 million dollars in medical malpractice verdicts, in 2019 alone.