A new US study highlights how prevalent errors are when patients are discharged from the hospital with instructions to take medications.

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[Medication errors may be common after hospital discharge][1]

The study focused on patients who had been hospitalized for heart related conditions. It found that 20-30% of post-hospitalization prescriptions are never filled, and half are not continued as prescribed.

The study tied errors to a patient’s “health literacy,” defined as a patient’s ability to interpret and act on health information. Patients with a high health literacy were less likely to commit a prescription error, but the percentage difference was surprisingly low: those patients with the highest health literacy scores were only 16% less likely to make an error compared with patients who scored the lowest.

Interestingly, two better predictors for success were gender and relationship status. Women were 40% less likely than men to make a mistake, and single people were almost 70% more likely to make a mistake than married patients.

Patients and health care providers can share responsibility for medication errors. Potential medical malpractice claims can arise when a health care provider, particularly a physician or a nurse, doesn’t act in a reasonably prudent manner in instructing a patient regarding his or her medications, or failing to prescribe necessary medications, and injuries occur.

[1]: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/18/us-medication-errors-health-literacy-idUSKBN0FN1SK20140718 “Medication errors may be common after hospital discharge”