What Leads to Pharmacy Errors?

Pharmacy errors can be very serious and the process of seeking compensation for your injuries due to pharmacy negligence can hinge on finding out why a pharmacy error took place. The pharmacy as well as the pharmacist might be held accountable for your injuries and your lawyer will help you to seek compensation for the mistakes that led to your accident. The pharmacy might need to be shut down or seek new management if the errors in question are too numerous and too serious. Your case could potentially help prevent further injuries and deaths caused by pharmacist errors.

If you have been harmed by a pharmacy error or pharmacist negligence, you might be wondering why the error happened. There are many reasons that mistakes can happen in the pharmacy and pharmacy errors are not always avoidable - here are some common reasons mistakes are made that can injure patients.

Distractions

Pharmacists are often forced to work in conditions that are busy and chaotic. There might be staffing shortages and other problems that could lead to the mistakes that harm patients. Sometimes new staff can make errors that are not noticed by more experienced staff. While businesses like this try to avoid these kinds of errors and problems, there can be distractions that no one can prevent.

Ringing phones, busy times where there are many patients to help and other distractions can all add up to mistakes that lead to incorrect medications being given out to patients and dosing issues. Sometimes these distractions combined with working too many hours and a lack of support from the pharmacy management can lead to a situation that causes risk to patients.

Pharmacists have a duty to make sure that they take steps to notify their management of this kind of situation and to stop working if they think that the operating conditions in the pharmacy are not safe. When these steps are not taken and distractions are allowed to pile up, major mistakes can be made that impact patient care.

Incorrect Inventory Management

Sometimes mistakes in inventory management can lead to medications that look the same being placed in the wrong locations. There is packaging on many medications that should help prevent risks of giving out the wrong medications to patients, but when loose pills are being counted out of bottles, these mistakes might not be noticed until it is too late. Pharmacists have to be sure that they double-check the markings and the indicators on the pills they are giving out to patients.

When double checks are not done, inventory management issues can lead to significant patient harm. Inventory management must be done with care in the pharmacy, just like the actual work of giving medication out to patients. When inventory management is not handled properly, you will find that accidents can increase without anyone knowing that there are problems until patients have gotten sick.

Lack of Staff Training

While the pharmacist is the one who will be blamed for mistakes that have led to the injury of a patient, there are other people who work with them in the pharmacy that might have been involved in the error. The pharmacy staff that handles the labeling of bottles and checking in of documentation can also make errors or lack training. Everyone in the pharmacy needs to work together to make sure that the right medications are given to patients.

When pharmacy technicians and aids are not trained correctly, there can be risks to patient care and patient safety. Pharmacy staff of all kinds need to be trained properly to make sure that pharmacy errors are not a common occurrence.

Missing Safety Checklists

When processes are not carefully tracked, mistakes can happen. A well-organized pharmacy will make sure that the processes that lead to the safe care of patients are followed on a daily basis. Staff training can back up the checklists and make sure that nothing is missed when medications are being prescribed.

Checklists are a big help in making sure that the proper protocols are followed each day when work is being done. Safety checklists and double-checking processes can improve the chance that patients will not be harmed due to pharmacy errors. When these checklists are not present or are not followed, major errors can take place that can lead to patient harm.

What To Do If You Have Been Harmed by Pharmacy Negligence?

If you think that you have been harmed due to pharmacy negligence, you need to get a lawyer as soon as possible. Your personal injury lawyer will work hard to make sure that your case is cared for correctly and help you seek the compensation that you deserve for your injuries. These kinds of injuries can be long-term in nature and you might have health problems that will last for the rest of your life due to the mistake that was made by your pharmacist.

No matter the reasons for the errors that have caused your injuries, your attorney will take the time to do an investigation to find out why the mistakes were made.

Working with a skilled personal injury lawyer is key to seeking the compensation that you deserve after your pharmacy injury.