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More than 34,000 trademarked medication names and more than 10,000 generic medication names are in use in the United States.
For pediatric patients, intravenous fluids are the most commonly cited products involved in medication errors that are reported to the USP.
Serum cholesterol testing in adults is recommended every 1 to 5 years. People with diabetes and a family history of high cholesterol should be tested even more frequently.
Addicts to opiates often avoid treatment because they are afraid of withdrawal. Though unpleasant, with proper management, withdrawal is rarely fatal and passes relatively quickly.
Critical care patients are twice as likely to receive the wrong medication. Of these errors, 20% are life-threatening, and 42% require additional life-sustaining treatments.