Medication Safety Tips
Featured Resources
About UsReporting Medication ErrorsContact Us
Left Chevron
Back
Left Chevron
Reporting a Medication Error

What Do We Do With Your Report?

At ISMP, we review incident reports submitted by consumers and healthcare professionals and look for ways to prevent harmful errors. For example, we may approach a manufacturer to suggest that the label of a product be changed, we may suggest safer ways for healthcare professionals to handle medications, or we may remind consumers of things they can do to avoid making mistakes with medications.

ISMP will:

  • Review your report
  • Look for system problems that could cause errors to happen
  • Prepare recommendations that are designed to prevent mistakes with medication
  • Send recommendations about medication safety to healthcare professionals and consumers
  • Notify the manufacturer if it is a product issue
  • Advocate throughout the healthcare system to promote changes to improve medication safety
  • Provide consumer-focused information and tips about medication safety on the ConsumerMedSafety.org website
    ‍

ISMP will not:

  • Investigate a complaint on your behalf with an organization or healthcare professional that is responsible for an error
  • Investigate the actions of individual practitioners
  • Report (for disciplinary purposes) the incident to professional authorities responsible for regulating the practice of healthcare professionals
  • Release or publish any information that could identify the reporter of an incident, a patient, a healthcare professional, or an organization involved in an incident

‍

More Safety Articles

Check Medicine Labels for Potential Food Allergens

Learn More

This Oral Syringe Is Not Like the Others

The oral syringes that come with risperidone oral solutions are uniquely labeled and may cause confusion. Risperidone is a medicine used to treat certain mood disorders. Unlike other oral syringes, risperidone oral syringes have a barrel (the part that holds the medicine) that does not have any lines or numbers (markings). Instead, the markings appear on the plunger ( Figure 1). To measure a dose, the plunger must be pulled back until the dose marking aligns with the flange (winged end) of the barrel. Even though these syringes are different than other oral syringes, the instructions do not provide detailed, clearly illustrated information on how to read the markings when measuring a dose. We recently learned about a man who may have taken too much risperidone due to confusion with the dose markings.

Learn More

The “Granny Syndrome”: Accidental Poisonings in Children

Most people recognize that accidental poisonings in children are a daily occurrence in the US. But you may be surprised to learn one common source of these poisonings: grandparents’ medications! A scientific study conducted at the Long Island Poison Center1 found that about two of every 10 medicine poisonings in children involved grandparents’ medications. Most of these poisonings, caused by what the study participants called the “Granny Syndrome,” involved grandparents’ medicines that had been left on a table or countertop, on low shelves, or in grandmothers’ purses.

Learn More

Inspect Your Medicine Before Leaving the Pharmacy

A woman went to pick up her son's prescription for Metadate CD (methylphenidate, extended release), which is used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The pharmacist had a hard time reading the prescription. He thought the doctor had prescribed methadone. This medicine is used for drug withdrawal, and also to lessen cancer pain.

Learn More