Mixing up drugs because their names look or sound alike is one of the most common medical mistakes, harming at least 375,000 Americans each year.
That’s why the US Pharmacopeia, which helps set drug standards and promote patient safety, has launched a new tool that doctors can use to check if a drug is prone to mix-ups.
The nonprofit Institute for Safe Medication Practices and the online health service iGuard.org also plan to launch a patient-centered website in fall 2008 that sends users email alerts about drug-name confusion.
Nearly 1,500 common drugs have already been confused with another drug for one reason or another—from a smudged fax prescription to a pharmacist selecting the wrong bottle from the shelf.