Medication Error Statistics and Facts

Medication errors are a common and growing problem in the health care industry. While many technological advances and protocol changes are being made, the problem still exists.

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The following are statistics relating to medication and health care industry errors.

• Medication errors occur in about 1 of 5 doses in hospitals.
• Medication errors cause at least one death every day. (FDA)
• 1.3 million people sustain injury from medication errors every year. (FDA)
• It is estimated that 7,000 people die each year from medication errors.
• More people die a year from medical errors than from motor vehicle accidents.
• Adverse drug events cause more than 770,000 injuries and deaths every year. This costs up to $5.6 million per hospital.
• Patients who suffered adverse drug effects remained in the hospital an average of 8-12 days longer than those who did not. These extra days added $16,000 - $24,000 more to the patients hospital bill.
• A recent study was conducted at two prestigious teaching hospitals, which showed that two out of every 100 admissions experienced preventable adverse drug reactions.  This cost the hospital $4,700 per admission or $2.8 annually.
• Preventable adverse drug reactions cost the healthcare industry $2 billion annually.
• Infusion devices account for up to 35% of all medication errors that result in significant injuries. The most common errors (in order) are manually programming incorrect infusion parameters, failure to ensure the right patient receives the right medication, and tampering of infusion parameters by unauthorized users.

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Common causes of medication errors:

• Incorrect diagnosis
• Prescribing the wrong medication
• Drug interactions and reactions
• Dose miscalculations
• Incorrect drug administration
• Lack of patient education
• Job related stress
• Improper training or education
• Sound-alike or look-alike drug packaging

A study between the years of 1993-1998 found that the most common types of errors were:

• 40.9% (36.4% being overdose) - Administering improper dosage
• 19% - Wrong medication given
• 9.5% - Wrong route of administration

They also found the most common causes of these errors to be:

• 44% - Performance and knowledge deficits
• 15.8% - Communication errors.

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If you or a loved one has been injured by a medication error, please contact one of our experienced and dedicated pharmaceutical litigation lawyers at Anapol Schwartz. We will answer your questions and provide you with a free consultation on your case.

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