Fahimi Fanak, Baniasadi Shadi, Najafi Zadeh Katayoun
Clinical Pharmacy Department, Pharmacy School, Shahid Beheshti University, M.C., Tehran, Iran.
Ann Transplant. 2009 Oct-Dec;14(4):58-60.
One of the most significant ways to avoid medication errors is to study the errors that have occurred in other institutions and to use the information to prevent similar accidents at other practice sites.
We report a cyclosporine overdose that was caused, in part, by misinterpretation of the medication order of a transplanted patient. In transplantation regimen, a 15 mg BID dose of cyclosporine was supposed to be given as part of the immunosuppressive therapy. Unfortunately the patient received a total of 1500 mg but survived the overdose.
This case should be considered in the development of strategies to prevent unfavorable outcomes resulting from such errors.