A study published this week by the Journal of Hospital Medicine reports that 96 percent of patients cannot correctly identify medications they received while hospitalized.

Obviously, patients who do not know what medications they are being given cannot play a part in warding off potential prescription errors.  In 2006, the Institute of Medicine estimated that there are 1.5 million adverse drug events in the U.S. annually.  Other studies have cited miscommunication as a common cause of medical prescription errors.

Making sure patients know which medications they will receive while hospitalized – an important step toward reducing potentially fatal mistakes.