Why Should Medication Errors be Reported?

Although most medication errors don't cause harm, some have caused serious harm and even death. Often, mistakes with medication are caused by underlying problems in the system. For example, just as confusing road signs can cause accidents on the road, problems such as look-alike labels, confusing equipment and poor handwriting can lead to mistakes in health care.

When errors are reported and reviewed, problems that could increase the chance of an error happening can often be found and corrected. This is a much better way to prevent errors than punishing the person who made the mistake. Blaming the person who made the mistake without getting to the root of the problem will not prevent the same mistake from being made by someone else. By reviewing error reports and suggesting safer ways to prescribe, package, dispense or give medication, we can help prevent harmful errors.

Recently, Canada has made great progress in preventing harmful errors by developing the Canadian Medication Incident Reporting and Prevention System (CMIRPS). Up until now, most reports have been provided by healthcare workers. CMIRPS needs information that consumers can provide, but there hasn't been a convenient location where consumers can report medication errors. The SafeMedicationUse.ca site will provide a better way for consumers to submit error reports and help improve the system. The more error reports we receive, the better we will be able to take actions to prevent them from happening in the future.