Medication errors kill more people than car accidents. Here’s how pharmacies are trying to stop them.
Every year, around 250,000 people in the U.S. die because of medication errors. That’s more than from strokes, Alzheimer’s, or breast cancer. And most of these deaths aren’t caused by reckless doctors or careless nurses. They happen because of broken systems - unlabeled syringes, misread prescriptions, automated cabinets that let staff bypass safety checks, and weight-based dosing mistakes in kids. The good news? We know exactly how to fix most of these problems. The bad news? Many hospitals and pharmacies still aren’t doing it.
The National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs), set by The Joint Commission, are the closest thing we have to a national playbook for stopping these errors. First introduced in 2003, these goals aren’t suggestions. They’re mandatory for nearly every hospital in America. And the biggest focus? Medication safety.
What the Joint Commission actually requires
The 2025 NPSGs don’t just say “be careful.” They lay out specific, measurable rules. For example:
- NPSG.03.04.01 says every medication container - even a tiny syringe on an operating table - must be labeled with the drug name, strength, and concentration. The font? At least 10-point. No exceptions. A 2023 audit found 27% of operating rooms still used unlabeled syringes. That’s not negligence. It’s a system failure.
- NPSG.03.05.01 targets blood thinners like warfarin. These drugs kill if dosed wrong. The rule? Every patient on them must get clear education, regular INR blood tests, and documented target ranges. Facilities must hit 95% compliance, measured every quarter.
- Bedside specimen labeling is new in 2025. Nurses must now label blood tubes in front of the patient, using two identifiers (name and date of birth). Why? Mislabeled samples cause about 160,000 harmful events each year - wrong diagnoses, unnecessary surgeries, even deaths.
These aren’t abstract policies. They’re direct responses to real deaths. In one case, a patient got a muscle relaxant instead of insulin because the syringe wasn’t labeled. He went into a coma. He survived. But only because a pharmacist caught it at the last second.
The Five Rights? They’re not enough
You’ve probably heard the “Five Rights” of medication safety: right patient, right drug, right dose, right route, right time. It’s taught in every nursing school. But here’s the truth: 83% of medication errors happen even when all five rights are checked.
Why? Because the Five Rights put the burden on people, not systems. A nurse working a 12-hour shift with eight patients can’t pause for 10 minutes to double-check every pill. She’s tired. The lights are dim. The barcode scanner is broken. The automated cabinet is out of stock, so she grabs the next closest bottle. That’s not human error. That’s a flawed design.
Studies show that when hospitals rely only on the Five Rights, error rates stay flat. But when they add technology - like barcode scanning and automated dispensing cabinets with audit trails - wrong-drug errors drop by up to 86%.
Automated dispensing cabinets: lifesaver or liability?
Automated dispensing cabinets (ADCs) are everywhere now. They’re supposed to reduce errors by locking up high-risk drugs and requiring staff to scan IDs before pulling medication. But they’ve created a new problem: overrides.
An override happens when a nurse punches in a code to bypass the system - usually because they need a drug “stat” during an emergency. The Joint Commission says override rates should stay below 5%. But in 34% of hospitals, they’re hitting 10%, 15%, even 20%.
Here’s the scary part: hospitals with override rates over 5% have 3.7 times more medication errors. Why? Because every override is a chance for a mistake. A nurse grabs morphine instead of midazolam. A pharmacist doesn’t catch it. The patient codes.
The fix? Don’t ban overrides. Fix the reasons they happen. Train staff to anticipate emergencies. Stock high-demand drugs in faster-access locations. Use real-time inventory alerts. And track override patterns - not just to punish, but to predict.
High-alert medications: the silent killers
Some drugs are more dangerous than others. The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) calls them “high-alert medications.” These include insulin, heparin, opioids, and injectable potassium. One wrong dose can kill in minutes.
ISMP’s Targeted Medication Safety Best Practices list 19 specific risks. One? Injecting promethazine (an anti-nausea drug) into an artery. Between 2006 and 2018, that mistake caused 37 amputations. Why? Because it looks like any other IV fluid. The fix? Color-coded labels, separate storage, and mandatory double-checks.
Another? Giving opioids to patients who’ve already overdosed. Hospitals now require staff to check a patient’s opioid history before giving any new dose. Simple. Life-saving.
And then there’s pediatric dosing. Kids aren’t small adults. A 5kg baby needs a completely different dose than a 70kg teen. Yet, 3 out of every 10 medication errors in children involve weight-based miscalculations. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia fixed this by requiring:
- Electronic order entry with built-in weight-based dosing alerts
- Double-checks by two pharmacists for all high-risk drugs
- Standardized syringes with pre-calculated doses
Result? A 91% drop in dosing errors.
Why some hospitals succeed - and others don’t
It’s not about money. It’s about leadership.
Hospitals that make real progress have three things:
- Pharmacy leadership at the table - not just as order-takers, but as safety architects.
- Executive sponsorship - if the CEO doesn’t care, the staff won’t either.
- A culture that reports errors without fear - if nurses are scared to admit a mistake, you’ll never fix the system.
KLAS Research found that programs with strong leadership had an 89% sustainability rate after five years. Without it? Just 42%.
One pharmacy director in Ohio told me: “We used to blame the nurse who gave the wrong pill. Then we started asking: ‘Why did she have to grab it from the wrong drawer? Why wasn’t the barcode scanner working? Why did we run out of the right syringe again?’ That shift saved lives.”
What’s coming next
The future of medication safety isn’t just better labels or more scanners. It’s AI.
At Mayo Clinic, a pilot program uses artificial intelligence to scan electronic records and flag potential drug interactions before they happen. For example, if a patient is on warfarin and gets prescribed a new antibiotic that boosts its effect, the system warns the pharmacist. In six months, they saw a 47% drop in potential adverse events.
By 2026, ISMP will add 6 new safety practices, including vaccine administration checks and better handoffs between hospitals and home care. The World Health Organization wants every country to adopt these standards by 2030. But right now, only 22% of low-income countries have even basic medication safety systems.
Meanwhile, the global market for patient safety software is set to hit $4 billion by 2028. That’s not because it’s trendy. It’s because hospitals are finally realizing: preventing one death is cheaper than paying for one lawsuit.
What you can do - even if you’re not a pharmacist
You don’t need to work in a hospital to help. Here’s how:
- Ask questions - “Is this the right drug for me?” “Why am I taking this?” “What side effects should I watch for?”
- Bring a list - every time you see a doctor, bring a written list of all your meds, including vitamins and over-the-counter pills.
- Check the label - when you pick up a prescription, compare the bottle to the doctor’s instructions. If it doesn’t match, say something.
- Speak up - if you see a nurse grab a drug without scanning, or a pharmacist look confused, ask. You’re not being rude. You’re saving a life.
Medication safety isn’t about perfection. It’s about layers. One layer fails? The next one catches it. But if every layer is weak, someone dies. The tools exist. The rules are clear. The question is: are we ready to use them?
