Preventable adverse drug events

1. Preventable adverse drug events
Risk factors Sample corrective strategies
Patient
• Polypharmacy
• Low health literacy
• Very young or advanced age
• Communication barriers
• Nonadherence/lack of follow-up
• Increased checkpoints in
medication reconciliation (eg,
multiple providers)
• Plain-language medication
counseling
• Patient "teach-back" (ie,
patient describes
understanding of treatment in
own words)
Provider
• Vague prescriptions
• Incorrect medication reconciliation
• Absence of counseling
• Illegible handwriting
Medication
• Look- or sound-alike drugs (eg,
prednisone/prednisolone)