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Patient safety is defined as “the prevention of healthcare errors and the elimination or mitigation of patient injury caused by healthcare errors” (National Patient Safety Foundation,2003). In 1999,the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its landmark report,“To Err is Human”,about patient safety in the US1. They reported that 48,000-98,000 people die each year in the US at a cost of more than $6 billion per year as a result of errors. Medication prescription plays a central role in healthcare. Therefore the improvement in medication safety has a large effect on the improvement of overall patient safety. The IOM estimated that about 80,000 people are hospitalized and 7,000 die annually in the USA specifically due to medication errors in the inpatient setting. Of these errors,32-9% are definitely or possibly preventable,at an estimated cost of $2 billion per year. Similar reports in other countries show that medication errors indeed have important impact on mortality,morbidity and cost of care6,7.Patient and medication safety got a lot of attention due to this report and efforts were made to understand its epidemiology,state research priorities,implement scientifically sound yet feasible interventions,and develop measures to evaluate progress. While there is broad consensus that faulty systems rather than faulty people cause most errors,healthcare workers still struggle to find practical and sound ways to address and mitigate hazards. As errors have become more visible and our patients continue to suffer from preventable harm,patients,regulators,accreditors,and clinicians feel a sense of urgency to improve patient safety.