A patient empowerment model to prevent medication errors.
Each year, untold deaths occur because of medical and medication errors in the United States. In generally, most people have the naïve perception that the health-care enterprise is a fail-safe system and as such do not take proactive measures to prevent potential medication errors. This paper is timely in light of the proliferation of medication use in outpatient settings and thus warrants the education of patients to take the responsibility in proper drug use. Patients and the health-care professionals must understand the need to see patients as part of the health-care team to ensure quality of care and decrease medication errors. A patient empowerment model to prevent medication error is therefore proposed.
Awé
Clara
C
Department of Pharmacy Administration, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60612, USA. awe@uic.edu
Lin
Swu-Jane
SJ
D006801:Humans; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000379:methods; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration