What factors contribute to causing medication errors?

According to estimates, the majority of the adverse events in healthcare are due to human errors. Doctors, nurses, pharmacists and even the patient’s family members perform dozens of small actions that may threaten the success of a treatment.

Prescription errors,
Mistakes regarding the commercial name or abbreviations,
Errors in the dose or administration method.
Errors in the understanding or noncompliance.

These are failures of the system, and the level of incidence are related to each organization’s culture. For this reason, in order to correct the error, the right question is what and not who caused it.

Failures in the medication system that cost lives and a lot of money

What measures could be taken to identify medication errors and act from them?

There is agreement in that it is of importance:

That the notice of an error be anonymous and not punitive.
That medical records be checked and medication administration be observed.
That certain alert signs be monitored.

It would also help:

That the packaging and labeling be unified.
That medication be presented in a single dose.
And finally, that the patient be informed on the characteristics and treatment of the illness he or she is suffering.