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As the diversity of drug delivery systems continues to expand to accommodate patient needs, the risk of prescribing errors will increase. Nuanced differences between medication labels or doses of the same drug with different routes of administration can lead to human error. In the most objective sense, the physiologic manifestation of these errors can be traced to aberrant changes in basic pharmacokinetic principles. A focus on bioavailability can serve as a logical hinge to consider drug-patient and drug-drug interactions. The first step toward mitigating medical errors associated with bioavailability is a shared knowledge of the basic principles of bioavailability between members of the interprofessional healthcare team caring for the patient. Including this knowledge as part of staff training can be beneficial. Nurses with a solid understanding of bioavailability can use the patient’s history, vitals, and medication list more effectively and become another layer of protection against adverse drug events (ADEs). This knowledge may provide additional confidence to nurses administering drugs to patients. With more opportunities for medical errors, the onus falls on creating and maintaining a system that mitigates these mistakes as best as possible. Open communication among interprofessional healthcare team members can significantly reduce the risk of prescription errors. Regularly utilizing pharmacists in pharmaceutical decision support has been shown to reduce the risk of adverse drug events.[21] [Level 3] Pharmacists can perform a medication reconciliation before drug administration. Pharmacist review is another safeguard against adverse drug events because their more detailed pharmaceutical expertise is well-equipped for surveying a wider scope of potential drug interactions.

With more opportunities for medical errors, the onus falls on creating and maintaining a system that mitigates these mistakes as best as possible. Open communication among interprofessional healthcare team members can significantly reduce the risk of prescription errors. Regularly utilizing pharmacists in pharmaceutical decision support has been shown to reduce the risk of adverse drug events.[21] [Level 3] Pharmacists can perform a medication reconciliation before drug administration. Pharmacist review is another safeguard against adverse drug events because their more detailed pharmaceutical expertise is well-equipped for surveying a wider scope of potential drug interactions. After drug administration, scheduled checkpoints for patient monitoring can provide a safety net for unanticipated pharmacologic responses. One important checkpoint is obtaining laboratory values at regular intervals; this is a safety measure to ensure a prescribed drug is maintained within the therapeutic range. In addition to ensuring drug efficacy through adequate plasma drug concentration, this checkpoint can serve as a method to prevent drug accumulation and toxicity. Between these intervals, checking patient vitals more frequently in patients with complex illnesses and medication lists is useful for monitoring acute physiologic reactions secondary to changes in drug bioavailability. Ultimately, obtaining and recording a complete medical history is critical in forming the breadth of medical background required to make safer prescription decisions. A previous study showed that 61% of patients (n=304) have one or more prescriptions not recorded.[22] [Level 3] This inadequacy reveals a significant vulnerability to patients in the context of potential adverse drug events. Further, nonprescription drugs, herbal supplements, and food products can alter drug bioavailability; such is the essence of special dietary monitoring of patients taking warfarin.[18] While augmented interprofessional healthcare teams can mitigate bioavailability-associated adverse patient outcomes, the systems are limited to the degree of medical and lifestyle knowledge about the patient and the drugs they take.