Problems and pitfalls in cardiac drug therapy

Medical errors in the care of patients may account for 44,000 to 98,000 deaths per year, and 7,000 deaths per year are attributed to medication errors alone. Increasing awareness among health care providers of potential errors is a critical step toward improving the safety of medical care. Because today's medications are increasingly complex, approved at an accelerated rate, and often have a narrow therapeutic window with only a small margin of safety, patient and provider education is critical in assuring optimal therapeutic outcomes. Providers can use electronic resources such as Web sites to keep informed on drug-drug, drug-food, and drug-nutritional supplements interactions.