Medication Safety
Preventing Medication Errors
Medication errors are one of the most common causes of harm to patients. Our healthcare team has successfully implemented many programs to prevent errors so that you can be confident in your safety.
Your medication history is very important.
Always have a list of all of your medications with you, and include information like:
- Medication name
- Medication strength (i.e., the number with mg, gm or % beside the name of the medication)
- Dosage amount
- When you take the medication
This will help ensure that your prescriptions are ordered correctly. Most times, an New England Baptist Hospital pharmacist reviews your medications at your prescreening appointment. The pharmacist will enter your medications into our computer system, which your doctor will use to prescribe your medications.
We may order medications that we do not carry before your visit so that your medication therapy will not be interrupted.
Electronic medical records eliminate errors due to poor handwriting or unsafe abbreviations. We use our unique computer system to help us follow your medications at every stage of your journey, from when you arrive through when you leave New England Baptist Hospital. This ensures that you’re taking the correct medications at each level of care.
Some medication errors are caused when patient’s identification is not checked. At New England Baptist Hospital, members of your healthcare team will ask you to repeat your name and date of birth. This helps us provide safe and accurate care.
Every time you are given medications, your nurse will ask you to state your name and date of birth and will check your wrist band. We use barcode scanning technology and medication dispensing machines to help identify your medications before they are given to you.
Medication errors are usually caused by system failures, rather than individual mistakes. A pharmacist is in our post-surgery recovery room to talk directly with your doctor to make sure that all of your medication orders are right for you.
