Pharmacy Technicians Help Prevent Errors with Medication

vIn addition to providing proper dosages of medications prescribed by primary care physicians and specialists, pharmacy technicians help prevent medication errors, some of which can cause great harm to the patient. Medication errors pharmacy technicians keep an eye out for include drug interactions, duplications, omissions, allergies, and dosage errors.

According to a study published by the Journal of Patient Safety in September 2013, over 200,000 Americans die each year from preventable medical errors. In fact, it’s the third leading cause of death in the United States.  Since hospitals can now be penalized under the Affordable Care Act if a patient is readmitted too soon, hospitals are placing extra focus on keeping readmission rates down. Many are doing so by pairing pharmacy technicians with patients in order to avoid medication errors.

In some cases, pharmacy technicians act like detectives- calling family members, multiple doctor’s offices and pharmacies in order to complete a patient’s full history of prescription medications.  By pairing pharmacy technicians with patients, medical professionals hope to reduce errors and improve a patient’s overall quality of life.