Based on the US Institute of Medicine Report-Preventing Medication Errors:

In any given week, 4 out of 5 US adults will use prescription medications, over the counter drugs, or dietary supplements of some sort.

Alarmingly, 1 in every 3 adults will take five or more different medications, which will lead to more medicine questions.

There are at least 1.5 million preventable medication errors per year...and this figured is expected to be largely underestimated!

The 1st step---is to allow and encourage patients to take a more active role in their medical care, in an effort to prevent medication errors. Patients should keep a medication list of ALL the medications they are taking and take greater responsibility for monitoring those medications. Patients should also seek an expert, such as a clinical pharmacist to answer any medicine questions they may have.

Given the above statistics it is striking that so few people are aware of the IOM recommendation above.