My real life experiences

It was a chilly Sunday morning, and I had to visit a doctor for some tests and medications. I arrived on time, waited for a while, and finally, the doctor turned up. After a quick consultation, I was given a handwritten prescription for medicines.

🏪 I immediately went to the nearest pharmacy. The store was just opening, and a middle-aged pharmacist, around 30 years old, was getting everything ready. He seemed sleepy but had to open the store on time to stick to his schedule.

💊 The pharmacist took my prescription hurriedly, struggled to read the doctor’s difficult handwriting, and started pulling out medicines from the shelves.

🤔 I was doubtful, as humans are prone to mistakes. I decided to inquire and began matching the prescription with the medicines he handed over. When I questioned a substitute, he confidently assured me it had the same composition. I had no choice but to trust his day-to-day experience.

📱 The next day, after consuming a few doses, my intuition nudged me to recheck the medicines using Google. To my horror, I found that one of the medicines he gave me was entirely different and required a different dosage—four times a day!

😱 I was shocked, thinking about the consequences if I hadn’t checked. I could have been taking the wrong medicine for the next 10 days. What about those who lack the resources or education to verify such details?

🖨️ This incident made me think—what if there was a proper system in place? Doctors could issue printed prescriptions with detailed chemical compositions. Pharmacists could verify the medicines against an online system, avoiding such human errors and ensuring no lives are put at risk.

⚙️ Human performance varies with time, mood, and mental state. In life-critical and mission-critical areas, we need to rely more on systems than human interpretations or decisions. Proper systems could save countless lives by reducing errors.

🛠️ This experience was an eye-opener. By implementing digitization in healthcare, we can avoid such errors and ensure safety for everyone, especially for those who cannot question or verify prescriptions. Let’s advocate for better systems to prevent these avoidable dangers!