What to ask: one list, the interactions, the dose for your age and kidneys, and the plan at discharge
The FDA defines a medication error as "any preventable event" and says one "may or may not result in an adverse event". Reporting to it is voluntary. The questions that lower your odds are short, and none involves changing what you take.
We have not finished checking this source. No judgement either way. how we score evidence
Caveat on this rating: A regulator page and a patient fact sheet, not evidence that asking these questions lowers harm; no trial on this row tests the list. The dose-for-age-and-kidneys question is not AHRQ wording and the row says so. The other direction: the questions cost nothing, the harms they target (interactions, unintentional overdose in older adults, name confusion, medicines dropped or duplicated at discharge) are the best-documented harms from care, and none of the questions asks anyone to change a medicine.
The numbers that are most solid, the drug numbers, are also the ones a patient can act on.
What the FDA page says
The FDA uses the national council's definition: a medication error is "any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of a healthcare provider, patient, or consumer." "A medication error may or may not result in an adverse event." "The reporting of medication errors to FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) is voluntary in the United States." The page lists the safety communications it has issued for name and dose confusion, among them the brand-name change of the antidepressant vortioxetine from Brintellix "to avoid confusion with antiplatelet drug Brilinta (ticagrelor)". No count of reports received is given on the page.
What to ask
The questions below are the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's where they say so, from its patient fact sheet 20 Tips to Help Prevent Medical Errors.
One list. "Make sure that all of your doctors know about every medicine you are taking. This includes prescription and over-the-counter medicines and dietary supplements, such as vitamins and herbs." "Bring all of your medicines and supplements to your doctor visits." In a state psychiatric hospital, a review of 31 charts and the dispensing records found 2,194 medication errors; the staff's own reporting system had logged nine. That is what happens when the record is the only list.
Interactions. Every time a drug is added, AHRQ's wording: "Is this medicine safe to take with other medicines or dietary supplements I am taking?"
Dose for age and kidneys. Ask: is this dose adjusted for my age and my kidneys? No guideline on this page says it in those words. The reason to ask is that among about 99,600 emergency hospitalizations a year for adverse drug events in Americans over 65, 65.7 percent were unintentional overdoses, mostly of ordinary drugs.
At the pharmacy. "Is this the medicine that my doctor prescribed?" Name confusion is common enough that the FDA has renamed drugs over it, including an antidepressant.
At discharge. "When you are being discharged from the hospital, ask your doctor to explain the treatment plan you will follow at home." "It is important to know whether or not you should keep taking the medicines you were taking before your hospital stay."
What this does not show
Nothing here is a reason to stop, start or change any medicine. AHRQ's own line: "Talk with your doctor or pharmacist before you stop taking any medicines that your doctor prescribed." These are questions for a prescriber or pharmacist, and the point of the list is that they are asked, not that you act alone on the answers.
Worth asking
All of the above, and one more: who has the complete list of what I take, and when did they last look at it?
Source
Medication errors related to CDER-regulated drug products — US Food and Drug Administration, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (2024)
How this was scored
- Study design
- not recorded
- Funding
- not recorded
- Published in
- not recorded
- Sample size
- not recorded
- Preregistered
- not recorded
- Conflicts disclosed
- not recorded
- Independent of proponent
- not recorded
- Retracted
- No
We have not finished checking this source, so there is no scoring to show yet. “We have not checked this yet” and “this is disputed” are different statements, so no scored band is shown rather than a low one.
Read the full scoring rubric, including what it can't tell you.
Published September 29, 2026.
Questions
How strong is the evidence behind this?
veisund rates this source "not yet assessed". We have not finished checking this source. No judgement either way. One caveat travels with that badge: A regulator page and a patient fact sheet, not evidence that asking these questions lowers harm; no trial on this row tests the list. The dose-for-age-and-kidneys question is not AHRQ wording and the row says so. The other direction: the questions cost nothing, the harms they target (interactions, unintentional overdose in older adults, name confusion, medicines dropped or duplicated at discharge) are the best-documented harms from care, and none of the questions asks anyone to change a medicine. The score is calculated from recorded facts about the source — study design, funding, publication venue, sample size, preregistration — not typed in by an editor.
What is the source for this?
Medication errors related to CDER-regulated drug products — US Food and Drug Administration, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (2024). The full source is linked on this page so you can read it yourself.
Is this medical advice?
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.