Every year, deaths occur due to pharmacological mistakes. In nearly every case, the cause is human error.
Simply moving the decimal point one digit to the right can cause instant overdose and death in some cases, depending on the drug involved.
"Medication errors happen all the time, an estimated one million each year, contributing to 7,000 deaths. On average there is one medication error every day for every inpatient. Let’s take a closer look at what’s contributing to these preventable errors." ~ Leah Binder, Forbes Magazine Researcher.
Technology exists that saves lives, however, and more hospitals are using this technology every day. Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) is a computer program that analyzes prescriptions written by doctors and finds life-threatening errors and other mistakes. According to the Forbes article, CPOE reduces these dangerous errors by as much as 85% when implemented properly (learn more).
