{"id":51925,"date":"2022-06-16T09:30:52","date_gmt":"2022-06-16T13:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.singlecare.com\/blog\/?p=51925"},"modified":"2026-01-06T13:10:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T18:10:00","slug":"pharmacist-errors-and-mistakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.singlecare.com\/blog\/pharmacist-errors-and-mistakes\/","title":{"rendered":"5 ways to prevent common pharmacy errors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Between <\/span>7,000 and 9,000<\/span> people die each year due to medication errors. On top of that, hundreds, if not thousands, of people may experience a medication issue that goes unreported. The responsibility of medication errors often falls on the shoulders of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who spend hours each day dispensing medications to patients. Without the right systems, pharmacist errors, such as giving the wrong medication, dosage, or strength of a prescription, can cause serious health complications to a patient\u2014and damage patient trust. Here\u2019s how to avoid prescription errors.<\/span><\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/b>Medication error statistics<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

What are the most common pharmacy mistakes?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Medication errors are defined as preventable events that can lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm. Meaning, medication errors don\u2019t always start in the pharmacy. They can occur during any part of the prescription process, from when a drug is first prescribed to when the patient starts taking the medication. However, the pharmacy is one of the highest-risk areas where medication errors may occur. Pharmacy mistakes include:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Dispensing the wrong medication to the patient<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Dispensing the wrong strength or dosage form of the medication<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Attaching the wrong prescription label to the medication bottle<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Incorrectly transcribing the prescription from the physician or other healthcare provider<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Providing incorrect dosage instructions on the prescription label<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Giving a patient a drug they are allergic to<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Giving a patient a drug that acts in the same way as another drug (duplication of therapy)<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Giving a patient a drug that interacts with other drugs they may be taking<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Pharmacy technician and pharmacist mistakes can occur due to a number of reasons. Pharmacies are considered high-stress environments where mistakes can fly under the radar while performing daily tasks. For example, a pharmacy technician might hand the patient the wrong medication if they forget to verify a patient\u2019s complete information, or a pharmacist might forget to double-check that the dosage instructions for a reconstituted antibiotic are correct. A <\/span>well-oiled pharmacy system<\/span><\/a> is necessary to ensure these mistakes don\u2019t happen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n