Antiretroviral medication errors for patients with HIV infection.

Errors in prescribing antiretroviral agents for patients with HIV infection may lead to treatment failure, drug resistance, or drug toxicity. Several published reports describe such errors, which appear to be related to a lack of knowledge, inexperience, complexities of the antiretroviral regimens, and sound-alike and look-alike names. Clinicians caring for patients with HIV infection should be aware of the potential for prescribing errors and develop strategies to prevent them.