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Medication errors top the list of patient safety issues. Help your patients become a proactive participant in addressing medication safety by downloading the Illinois State Medical Society’s patient education brochure on Safe Medicine Use. The brochure is also available in Spanish. Physicians can use this brochure to educate their patients on medication safety, encourage medication adherence, and encourage their patients to seek medical advice if they have questions about their medication.
Unintentional Medication Misuse
Accidental overdose is the second leading cause of accidental death in the United States (second to motor vehicle accidents). According to a recent CDC report, there has been a dramatic increase in the rates of unintentional drug overdoses, increasing five-fold between 1990-2006. This is in large part due to the increase in use of opioid medications for pain management. A recent report from the CDC revealed that emergency department visits involving opioid analgesics and benzodiazepines have more than doubled between 2004-2008.
Diversion
Medication diversion occurs when prescription medications are used for recreational use or for purposes for other than what they have been prescribed. According to the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health over half of nonmedical users of prescription-type pain relievers, tranquilizers, stimulants, and sedatives, aged 12 and over, said they received the drugs from a friend or relative, whom received the drug from a physician.
If you have concerns that a patient may be misusing, abusing or diverting prescriptions, you can log onto the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program to review your patient’s prescription history.
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