Prescription errors in clinical medicine: A wake-up call to a more meticulous physical therapy practice

Prescription error is a global issue of public health importance as it presents with adverse effects which have profound implications for patients, families, and healthcare providers. Prescription error is a primary cause of patient morbidity and mortality; however, deaths are only the tip of the iceberg. Also, there is costly and prolonged hospital stays among patients that fell victim of prescription errors; in fact, some of these patients may never fully recover to their premorbid status. Prescription error is also compounded by the need to prescribe for an ageing population with increasingly complex medical needs and the introduction of many new medications. Just as errors are common to other healthcare practices, physiotherapy practice can also lead to errors. However, many physiotherapists consider physiotherapy interventions to have little or no potential harm on patients. However, all the best of training and good intentions in the world cannot make a physiotherapist immune to error. The errors made in clinical medicine globally should serve as a wake-up call to physiotherapists to better their practice, seek means to avoid or minimize errors in the processes involved in prescription of interventions to patients, implement them, raise the prestige of the profession and win back the fading trust of the society at large.