The Right Medicine, the Right Information: Preventing Medication Errors at Work

An everyday medicine deserves a careful conversation

A worker starts a new prescription. Another buys a cold remedy before a night shift. A third returns from hospital with revised treatment. These ordinary situations deserve attention because safe medicine use depends on information being accurate and understood.

World Patient Safety Day is an opportunity to strengthen that conversation. WHO’s Medication Without Harm initiative addresses avoidable harm across the medication-use process, including transitions between care settings.

Keep the list accurate and share it with the care team

Workers should tell their clinician or pharmacist about prescribed medicines, non-prescription products, supplements, known allergies and relevant previous reactions. A current list helps healthcare professionals review treatment and identify discrepancies.

After a care transition, ask a qualified professional to clarify which medicines were started, stopped or changed. Similar names, different brands and outdated records can create confusion. Do not rely on a colleague’s recollection to resolve it.

Make instructions understandable

Before leaving a consultation, ask how and when to take the medicine, how long it is intended for and what to do if there is a problem. Clarify storage requirements and any precautions relevant to the individual.

A useful check is to explain the instructions back in your own words and ask the professional to confirm them. Do not share prescribed medicines, change doses or discontinue treatment without appropriate professional advice. Questions about missed doses or adverse effects need medicine-specific guidance.

Discuss safety-critical duties privately

Some medicines or their effects may affect alertness, coordination or the ability to perform particular tasks. The impact varies with the medicine, individual and duties. A blanket assumption about every person taking medication is inappropriate.

Describe the actual work to the clinician, pharmacist or occupational health team: control-room monitoring, driving, machinery operation, working at height or other relevant responsibilities. Use the authorised process to establish whether work adjustments or review are needed.

Supervisors should receive the work advice necessary to manage the task. Workers need a confidential route to disclose relevant information to healthcare professionals without being expected to announce their treatment in a toolbox talk.

Support medicine safety across a rotation

Before offshore deployment, discuss prescribed supply and continuity with the relevant care team. Confirm approved site arrangements for storage and access, rather than improvise packaging or carry unidentified tablets.

An illustrative worker returns from onshore treatment with a changed prescription. The safety improvement is a professional review of the updated list and relevant work implications before the old medication record is reused.

Choose one improvement for 17 September

Ask the occupational health provider how medicine changes are checked at care handovers. Ensure workers know whom to contact when instructions are unclear or they have concerns about treatment and duties.

Discussion question: If a worker's prescription changes, how do we ensure that the clinical record and relevant work advice remain current?