Prescription Errors: How Mistakes Happen and How to Stop Them
When you pick up a prescription, you expect it to be safe. But prescription errors, mistakes in writing, filling, or taking a medication that can lead to harm. Also known as medication errors, these aren’t just rare accidents—they’re a quiet crisis in healthcare. A study from the National Academy of Medicine found that the average American is exposed to at least one prescription error each year. Most aren’t fatal, but many cause nausea, dizziness, falls, hospital stays, or worse. And the worst part? A lot of them are totally preventable.
Dosing errors, giving too much, too little, or the wrong frequency of a drug are the most common. Think of someone taking two pills instead of one because the label was blurry. Or a doctor prescribing a kidney drug to someone with poor kidney function. Pharmacy errors, when the wrong drug or strength is handed out happen too—sometimes because of similar-looking drug names like Hydralazine and Hydroxyzine. Even the way a prescription is written—handwritten, unclear abbreviations, missing units—can set the stage for disaster.
It’s not just doctors and pharmacists. Patients play a role too. Not reading labels, mixing old and new meds, skipping doses, or assuming a pill is safe because it’s "just a painkiller"—all of this adds up. That’s why drug safety, the practice of preventing harm from medications through awareness and system checks isn’t just a hospital policy. It’s something you need to be part of every single day.
Look at the posts below. They don’t just talk about what goes wrong—they show you how to spot the red flags. One explains how to read your medication label so you don’t accidentally double-dose. Another details how generic immunosuppressants like cyclosporine can behave differently than brand names, and why that matters for transplant patients. There’s a guide on storing opioids safely to keep kids from getting into them. Another breaks down how insurance tiers can lead to accidental substitutions that increase risk. You’ll see real examples: someone mixing sedatives and not realizing they’re overdosing because they look like they’re just sleeping. Or how stopping terazosin cold turkey spikes blood pressure dangerously. These aren’t hypotheticals. These are stories that happen in homes, clinics, and pharmacies every week.
You don’t need to be a doctor to protect yourself. You just need to know what to ask, what to check, and when to say "Wait, that doesn’t seem right." The information below gives you the tools. No jargon. No fluff. Just what works.
Illegible Handwriting on Prescriptions: How Electronic Systems Are Saving Lives
Nov, 7 2025