The universe of potential medication errors is indeed vast, and people die or suffer serious setbacks in hundreds of thousands of cases each year in the United States resulting from a mistake associated with a prescription drug. A doctor sometimes fails to check to see if a patient has allergies that may interfere with the efficacy or safety of a prescribed drug. The dosage may be written down incorrectly. Conversely, a pharmacist might confuse one drug for another or mislabel a medication.

A new study just published in the June issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology presents findings from researchers at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, suggesting that doctors often make medication errors prescribing drugs for patients who receive ongoing medical care in their homes.

Most pointedly, the study research shows that medicines are often overprescribed, especially to patients younger than 65 and those with comparatively poor prognoses.

The study examined data on about 125,000 patients who receive at-home care for two months or more during a year. A central finding was that "younger and sicker patients seem to be at added risk for misuse," and researchers recommend follow-up scrutiny on why that is, as well as why it is more obvious when the patient is in a home setting.

A noted concern is that a commonly prescribed class of drugs for at-home patients is fluoroquinolones, which are often perceived to have a connection with increased resistance rates. Overuse of such drugs can make them less effective with subsequent use and also bring about infections that have a heightened resistance to prescription drugs.

Related Resource: US News & World Report, "Docs Overprescribing Antibiotics for Home-Care Patients: Study" June 17, 2011