medication mix-ups. The number is relatively small when compared to the number of medications that are being prescribed and

bought from pharmacies on a daily basis, but the statistic does not quite represent just how likely it is for someone to make

a mistake in purchasing their medication. Somewhere along the three-way chain consisting of the doctor, the pharmacist, and

the patient, a little miscommunication can result in someone buying the wrong medication. It isn't at all unusual for someone

who was prescribed Allegra, an anti-allergen, to end up being given Viagra by the pharmacist due to bad handwriting on the

prescription.

In most cases, medical mix-ups of this variety can have mildly unpleasant effects on the body. There are very few cases where

the side effects of mistakenly taking the wrong medication end up in the hospital, but it does happen. It can sometimes get

worse in those rare instances when drug interactions occur between a drug that was purchased correctly and one that was

bought by mistake. It isn't a clear and present risk whenever someone gets a prescription and asks a pharmacist to fill it

out, considering how rare it is, but it doesn't take a near-fatal case of drug interactions to make incorrect medication a

serious problem.

One of the main problems would be just how similar the names of various medications are. The aforementioned example involving

Allegra and Viagra can easily happen, though people would probably be able to spot the mistake rather quickly. Another case

involves Desogen, which is used as a contraceptive, and Desowen, a steroidal cream. These two only have a single letter

differentiating one from the other, so it isn't that hard to imagine anyone being unable to make the distinction without

actually seeing the name written down by a doctor. That is, unless the doctor's handwriting looks more like the Greek or

Russian alphabet than anything that the average patient would be able to read.

Many patients, and not a few pharmacists, have encountered situations where the handwriting on the prescription is almost

impossible to decipher. Being unable to read what is written on the prescription means that the pharmacist ? and the patient,

in some cases ? would have to do a little guesswork to figure out what needs to be given. Unfortunately, when combining this

situation with the fact that drugs tend to be named similarly to one another, this makes it a rather simple matter for both

the pharmacy and the patient to make a mistake. This can be particularly true if the patient has no idea what the drug is

for, or what it is supposed to actually do. Doctors ought to be able to write clearer prescriptions, but some people ? not

just doctors ? naturally have horrid penmanship.

Preventing mix-ups, along with the inconveniences and drug interactions that might crop up because of it, ought to be a

responsibility for every patient. People should know what drugs are called, so they would know whether or not the pharmacist

deciphered the doctor's handwriting correctly. They should also know the look of their drugs, the expected side effects, and

the dosages that they come in. Any of these bits of information can help a pharmacist make sure the patient is getting the

right medication.