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Databases A Possible Culprit In Medication Errors

July 31, 2006

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Last week a new report revealed that at least 1.5 million Americans per year are harmed by medication errors. Reasons ranged from pharmacists misinterpreting physician's handwriting to consumers themselves taking the wrong doses.

However, research conducted by Dr. Scott Strayer, assistant professor of family medicine at the University of Virginia Health System, suggests that drug databases commonly used by physicians could be partly to blame.

His research appears in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association and reports that only two of 15 popular databases reported the recall of a once often-prescribed pain killer on the same day the recall was announced.

"Although patients would not be able to obtain a recalled drug from the pharmacy, if these databases are missing this type of information, they are likely to be out-of-date on other important information such as new contraindications or adverse reactions," said Strayer.

Strayer believes that the better upkeep of databases commonly used by physicians to look up drug dosing, interactions and adverse reactions are crucial to helping physicians make the best medication choices for their patients.

Several of the prominent, nationally-known drug reference databases took an average of more than three months to update the withdrawal of valdecoxib from the market.

"As the prevalence of prescription medicines grows coupled with information that changes daily, it is very important that there be a coordinated warning and reference system for prescription awareness," Strayer said.

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