Abstract

PERILOUS EFFCT OF SALA DRUGS – ROOTCAUSE ASSESSMENT AND INTIMIDATION

*R. Gowri, N. Narayanan, A. Maheswaran,Y. Lavanya, M. Geethanjali, B. Karthick

Abstract

In the world of globalization, the pharmaceutical field is witnessing tremendous growth and changes in technology. “Sound-alike and lookalike drugs” means names of drugs that either look or sound similar often cause confusion, and can cause errors which can harm patients or even cause death. The most common intellectual error factors that are believed to contribute to errors include, too many telephone calls, Illegible prescription, Staff shortage, stress and fatigue. The most common SALA drugs were Alprazolam for Lorazepam, Azithromycin for Erythromycin and Phenobarbital for Pentobarbital. The purpose of the study of SALA drugs was to increase patient safety in relation to the use of medicines in primary care and the objectives were to measure the frequency and type of errors registered to estimate the seriousness of the errors and to identify potential solutions for error prevention. Errors can also be prevented by reducing pharmacist stress and patient pressure, including providing a comfortable waiting area. Other recommendations include not storing drugs with similar names near each other, the prescriber can avoid verbal prescriptions to a maximum extent, active involvement of the medical industry and regulatory authorities in future initiatives and steps to eliminate SALA effect. This review throws an insight of dangerous effect of SALA drugs and methods for developing strategies and recommendations to enhance patient safety and minimise clinical issues with look-alike, sound-alike medication names.

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