World Patient Safety Day 2026: Taking Multiple Medicines? Expert Explains How To Prevent Medication Errors

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World Patient Safety Day is observed every year on September 17 to raise awareness about preventing avoidable harm in healthcare and making care safer for patients. The 2026 theme, "Safe care for noncommunicable diseases", focuses on the safety needs of people living with chronic conditions, who may require medicines and medical care over long periods. Medication safety is an important part of this journey, particularly for people taking several medicines every day.

Why Taking Multiple Medicines Can Become Risky

Taking many medicines together, what doctors call polypharmacy, has become very common. For diabetes, BP, heart disease, thyroid, cholesterol - many people take 5, 8, even 10 tablets a day.

"It may be needed, but more medicines means more chance of drug interactions, duplicate medicines, and dosing mistakes," explains Dr. Vamshi V, Consultant - Internal Medicine, Gleneagles AWARE Hospital (A Fortis Healthcare Network Hospital), LB Nagar, Hyderabad.

Here are some common medication safety concerns in internal medicine and simple ways to avoid them.

Why Medication Errors Happen

According to Dr. Vamshi, several factors can contribute to medication errors. A communication gap between different specialists can mean that one doctor may not know everything prescribed by another, potentially resulting in duplicate medicines or interactions.

Similar-looking or similarly named medicines can also be confusing, particularly for older adults. Complicated schedules involving different doses and timings may lead to missed or repeated doses.

Over-the-counter medicines and supplements can create another risk. "Many think ayurvedic powders, vitamins, painkillers, acidity tablets are harmless. But they can interfere with your main medicines or affect kidney/liver."

Simple Steps To Prevent Medication Errors

Dr. Vamshi recommends keeping one master list containing every prescription medicine, vitamin, painkiller and herbal or Ayurvedic product being taken, along with its dose, timing and purpose. The list should be updated whenever anything changes.

A yearly "brown-bag review" can also help. "Once a year, put all your strips and bottles in a bag and bring them to your physician or pharmacist. Ask - 'Can we stop anything? Is any dose too high? Are two tablets doing same thing?' This alone prevents a lot of harm."

Using one pharmacy may allow medication-related concerns to be flagged, while pill organisers and reminders can help prevent missed or double doses.

Before starting a new medicine, Dr. Vamshi recommends asking three basic questions:

1. What is this for?
2. How and when should I take it?
3. What side effects or interactions should I watch for?

Making Medication Safety A Shared Responsibility

"Medicines are meant to protect you. But without a proper list and review, they can harm you too."

Photo Credit: Magnific

As World Patient Safety Day 2026 highlights safer care for people living with noncommunicable diseases, medication safety remains something patients can actively participate in. Keeping doctors informed, maintaining an updated medicine list and asking questions can help make long-term treatment safer and more organised.