The latest issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine reports that fatal medicine errors (FMEs) occuring from mismanagement of medication by patients at home has been increasing, presumably because more and more medications are now consumed outside of hospital and clinics. An examination of FMEs from 1983 to 2004 (nearly 225 thousand) showed that the greatest number of accidental deaths involved alcohol and/or street drugs. The researchers suggest that the number of these deaths can be reduced by focussing on interventions that occur outside of clinical settings. Full story.
Tags: accidental death, alcohol, drugs, medication, mismanagement, overdose
Dr. Steven Chang, the author of DailyDose, is a staff physician with Kosmix RightHealth. Dr. Chang practices Family Medicine at the University of California Davis Medical Center, where his medical interests include both pediatric and geriatric care, public health, gay and lesbian health, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chang trained at the Stanford University affiliated O'Connor Hospital, and was a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He holds an M.D. from McGill University and a BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.