Accessibility links
Report: Hospital Medication Errors Commonplace From mix-ups caused by similar-sounding names to accidental overdoses, more than 1.5 million people in hospitals and nursing homes are injured each year by medication errors, according to a new report from the Institute of Medicine.

Health Care

Report: Hospital Medication Errors Commonplace

Heard on Talk of the Nation

Report: Hospital Medication Errors Commonplace

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5589633/5589634" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

From mix-ups caused by similar-sounding names to accidental overdoses, more than 1.5 million people in hospitals and nursing homes are injured each year by medication errors, according to a new report from the Institute of Medicine.

Guests:

David Bates, member, Institute of Medicine Committee on Identifying and Preventing Medication Errors; chief of the Division of General Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital

Dr. Donald Berwick, president and CEO, Institute for Healthcare Improvement; clinical professor of pediatrics and health care policy, Harvard Medical School, professor of health policy and management, Harvard School of Public Health