Drug Confusion Toprol-XL,Topamax,Tegretol,Tegretol-XR(Dec05) Medical Video by Pharmacy

Drug Confusion Toprol-XL,Topamax,Tegretol,Tegretol-XR(Dec05)

Pharmacy

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Description

Medication errors can sometimes occur when drug names look or sound alike. For example, FDA has received reports of mix-ups between several drugs that all begin with the letter "T": Toprol-XL, a beta-blocker, Topamax, which is used to treat epilepsy and prevent migraine, and Tegretol or Tegretol-XR, another anti-epileptic. These mix-ups have occurred when prescriptions for these products were poorly written, misinterpreted, or incorrectly labeled or dispensed. Computer selection errors also played a role. In a number of cases, patients suffered adverse events because of these errors, and in some cases they had to be hospitalized. The similarity between the product names was reported to be a key factor in these errors. Also, these drugs are often stored close to each other on pharmacy shelves and there's some overlap between the available dosage strengths of these products. The manufacturers of Toprol-XL, Topamax, and Tegretol/Tegretol-XR recently sent letters to healthcare professionals and pharmacists, alerting them to this name confusion and suggesting ways to reduce the potential for dispensing errors. For example, prescribers should use both brand and generic name, as well as indication, when writing prescriptions. Pharmacists could physically separate the products on stock shelves and use "shelf talkers" as needed.