How Can Prescription Errors Happen During a Doctor's Visit?

A simple and straightforward visit to the doctor may result in you getting a new prescription. After taking this drug, you could notice signs that something is wrong.

Issues with your health after a prescription error are serious. Learning more about how these errors happen in the first place when you are in the office is critical.

Mistakes while writing numbers

According to the National Library of Medicine, prescription errors happen mostly in the stage where doctors write down prescriptions for drugs or when you order drugs. Part of these can come from a doctor mixing up two or more numbers for the dosage you must take.

When this dosage is too large, you may suffer from serious mental or physical difficulties and long-term health problems.

Failure to check for allergies or other drugs

Doctors should always ask what other drugs you are taking while speaking with you. Since there are so many possibilities for how these drugs interact, some prescriptions may not work well with your other medications. If they fail to ask about this overlap or other relevant parts of your medical history, such as allergies to medications, you could walk away with a prescription that harms you.

Confusion over different medication names

A doctor could write the wrong name for what drug you need if it is similar to another drug. These two medications could have wildly different uses, which can lead to serious injuries.

No matter what kind of medication error you face, knowing how your doctor caused it can help you.