Exploring the potential for using drug indications to prevent look-alike and sound-alike drug errors

摘要

Background: Look-alike, sound-alike (LASA) drug names are a cause of medication errors with resulting patient harm and healthcare costs. This study assessed to which extent the use of the generic drug name, therapeutic class, health problem, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved indications might be used to differentiate LASA drug pairs.