not all adverse events can be prevented given the knowledge information and the state of the art of medical care at the time of the incident for example an allergic reaction to a drug administered for the first time is an adverse event but would be considered unpreventable given the lack of preexisting knowledge of the patient s idiosyncratic allergy however any subsequent administration of this drug to this patient would be under most circumstances considered a preventable medication error and constitute a clear safety failure it is incumbent on providers to ensure this information is recorded and verified with the patient or their surrogates prior to administration for example the incidence of some types of healthcareassociated infections previously considered unpreventable has been reduced and even eradicated berenholtz et al pronovost et al in the previous drug reaction example preventabilitv may improve through precision medicine the ability to predict the likely outcome of administering a medication based on the patient s unique genetic or biological characteristics