Use of medicines is the most common intervention we make in health care, which means that problems with medicine use are also common.
Medicine safety: Take care
PSA’s Medicine Safety: Take Care report details the extent of harms in Australia as a result of medicine use.
The report reveals that 250,000 Australians are hospitalised each year, with another 400,000 presenting to emergency departments, as a result of medication errors, inappropriate use, misadventure and interactions. At least half of this could have been prevented.
Developed for PSA by the Quality Use of Medicines and Pharmacy Research Centre at the University of South Australia, the report calculates the annual cost of medication-related problems in Australia at nearly $1.4 billion – equivalent to 15 per cent of total PBS expenditure.
