Negligence in Pharmacy
Nisha Dhungel
HSM 320 Health Rights and Responsibilities
May 31, 2015
Beth VanOrsdale
Negligence in pharmacy
According to Fregman, negligence is an unintentional error where professional fail to give proper level of care to their patients. Negligence can happen in any sector of field. There are various factors where negligence can happen. Performing the duty carelessly, documenting wrong things, communication errors and inadequate training in performing their task rightfully are some of the factors that lead to negligence.
One of the most important factors in delivering the health services is the practice of pharmacy. The responsible person behind the pharmacy is a pharmacist who has the proper knowledge of drugs and how they work. Pharmacists are the first mode where people get advice in health. Their job is also very critical like any other medical field. Some of the common error causes by pharmacists are dispensing wrong medication, negligence in supervising their worker correctly, and negligence in counseling and teaching their patients are few examples of negligence done by pharmacist. This paper will discuss these errors and how they can prevent.
Dispensing wrong medication
The main job of pharmacist is to dispense correct medication to the patients. When the pharmacist dispenses the wrong medicine or wrong dose of a drug then it is called a medical malpractice. Taking wrong medicines is not the mistake of patients because they are simply doing what the instructions in their prescription is telling them to do. According to the article written by Ken LaMance, it has found that 10 percent of error occurs while filling up the prescription. This medication error is caused by the negligence of pharmacists.
Methods to prevent wrong medication error
In order to give correct medicine pharmacist should be clear on what is needed by patient and make sure that he/she should check every single step of dispensing process thoroughly. They should always take adequate time to checks prescription thoroughly without rushing. Pharmacists should be aware of lookalike medicine which can easily cause an error. At last show the patient the medicine in order to ensure if they are getting right medicine.
Negligence in teaching and counseling
Today in most states, pharmacies are required to teach patients about their medicine. They still neglects to provide adequate counseling about the side effects of the drugs. They don’t ask patients about medication allergy and warn patients about the potentials harmful effects of the given drugs. These not only harm patients but also the company because they are liable to the patients.
Methods to provide counseling
In order to successfully counsel the patients, pharmacists should create a safe learning environment. When patient enter the pharmacy they “should make them comfortable and willing to seek counseling.” (FIP, 2005). While counseling they should use simple, proper and clear language so that patients can understand what they are saying. Counseling should be fun they should use visual poster with animated features which can easily grab attention of the patients. They should also make sure that the area they choose to give counseling is less crowded and has no disturbance. Lastly pharmacists should obtain any feedback/suggestion from the patients and also ask them what they learned from the counseling.
Negligence in supervising
It is pharmacist’s responsibility to supervise their technicians but due to the inadequate staff members in pharmacy, technicians are doing pharmacist job. Due to the limited number of staff pharmacists are unable to provide adequate supervision towards their technicians. Before technicians had to attend classes
