February 2, 2008
Epocrates working with USP to avoid sound-alike drug errors
ePharm5
Epocrates is adding safeguards to its electronic clinical decision support tools to prevent medication errors stemming from drugs with names that sound alike. The company has been working with the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP), which released this week a report linking medication errors to drugs that look and sound alike. USP's MEDMARX Data Report showed that between 2003 and 2006, more than 1,400 different drugs were involved in errors linked to drugs with similar names. Also, each of the top 10 most-prescribed drugs in America is commonly confused with at least one other drug. According to Epocrates, it’s been working with USP to incorporate warnings about the more than 3,100 pairs of look-alike or sound-alike drugs into its free drug database.
CONTACT: Erica Sniad Morgenstern Epocrates Public Relations PHONE: (650) 227-6907 E-MAIL: pr@epocrates.com WEB: www.epocrates.com