FDA warns of prescribing errors in veterinary medicine

Many of the same errors that occur when prescribing human medications also occur in veterinary medicine, the FDA is finding.

Officials at the Center for Veterinary Medicine have reviewed common errors and are trying to raise awareness of the issue.

Errors can occur because of something as simple as poor penmanship or an abbreviation that’s unclear to a pharmacist who’s accustomed to filling prescriptions for human medicines. For example, CVM has found that the abbreviation “SID,” or once daily, sometimes used in veterinary prescriptions, was misinterpreted as “BID” (twice daily) and “QID” (four times daily), resulting in drug overdoses.

Officials want pet owners to be more aware of potential problems so they know what to look out for when administering medications to their pets.

“There are numerous opportunities throughout the treatment process (from writing a prescription to administering a drug) for different people to misinterpret or misread what is written or even typed on the medication’s label,” according to the FDA.

“Mistakes can happen at the veterinary clinic, but also in the pharmacy which fills the prescription, and at home, when the pet owner gives the animal the meds,” said Linda Kim-Jung, a safety reviewer at CVM.