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(PDF) Adverse drug events and medication errors

   

Added on  2021-04-24

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Leadership ManagementHealthcare and Research
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Running head: ADVERSE EVENTS; MEDICATION ERRORS AND PREVENTION STRATEGIES 1Adverse Events; Medication Errors and Prevention StrategiesNameInstitutionDate
(PDF) Adverse drug events and medication errors_1

ADVERSE EVENTS; MEDICATION ERRORS AND PREVENTION STRATEGIES2Adverse Events; Medication Errors and Prevention StrategiesThere are many activities and procedures carried out in hospitals to promote the health of their clients. Use of therapeutic drugs, medication, is essential in acute environments to alleviate a health problem or facilitate the health of an individual. Unfortunately, the use of these medicines and associated equipments can cause adverse events, especially when not appropriately applied. Adverse events (AE), according to the department of health of the government of Australia is the unintended occurrence especially harmful which is as a result of medication, vaccination or use of a medical device ("Reporting adverse events," 2018). Such circumstances have been reported to be common in most healthcare systems causing deaths, in fact, they are the seventh most common cause of deaths in general (singer & Vogus, 2013). Research has depicted that 10% of patients that have sought for healthcare services have had adverse medication events in previous six months (Keers et al., 2013). Among the adverse events, medication administration errors have received much scrutiny since they directly affect patient morbidity and mortality (Cloete, 2015). An Australian research reports that there was onemedicine that was left out in the medication history of every two people that were admitted to thehospital (Roughead, Semple & Rosenfeld, 2013). Moreover, the topic of medication errors is crucial since it seriously endangers the health of the patient, makes it expensive for the affected person and his or her relatives (Sultana, Cutroneo & Trifiro, 2013). This article will evaluate the contemporary research of medication errors, consider nursing interventions to avert medical administration errors and the function of inter-professional practice in enhancing patient safety. A medication error can be defined as any deviation from the physician's medication protocol contained on the patient chart (Garrouste-Orgeas et al., 2012). Also, it refers mistakes made at the prescribing, transcribing, dispensing, administering, preparation and distribution
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ADVERSE EVENTS; MEDICATION ERRORS AND PREVENTION STRATEGIES3stage of therapeutic drugs (Grove, Burns & Gray, 2012). The medication errors can cause adverse effects on patients care, providers, health professionals and other people. Some of the errors can lead to death or severe injuries. In Australia, there are 200 million medicine prescriptions sold implying that about 70% of the overall population will use the medication in every two weeks (Higgins & Field, 2012) posing a grievous health problem if not well used. Besides causing harm to hospitalised patients, the medication errors are responsible for a large percentage of hospital admissions (Klopotowska et al., 2013). Mistakes that happen in the hospital during the process of medication lengthen hospitalisation time consequently increasing healthcare expenses (Marques et al., 2016) while some patients never recover fully from the premorbid status (Sultana, Cutroneo & Trifiro, 2013). Furthermore, the errors have an adverse psychological impact on the patient (Radley et al., 2013). Much more the errors destroy the confidence the patient, family and public have on the healthcare facilities (Lee et al., 2014). Finally, medical professionals who commit medication errors can be haunted by memories of themistakes therefore affecting their work (Seys et al., 2013). The above facts point out the significance of medication errors and the need to evaluate its effects and prevention mechanisms.The errors occur in the various stages of the process of medication, that is, preparation, prescription, transcription, dispensation and administration (Kruer, Jarell & Latif, 2014). For example, a third of the mistakes that harm patients in hospitals take place in the preparation and administration phases, solely a nursing activity (Wittich, Burkle & Lainer, 2014). Seventeen percent of the errors occur at the prescription stage, fourteen percent during the preparation whileeleven percent happen at the transcription stage (Mueller et al., 2012). Administration phase has the highest percentage of error occurrence (53%), and it has few checks since most of it is done by one nurse (Keers et al., 2013). Seventy percent of prescription mistakes are done by nurses
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ADVERSE EVENTS; MEDICATION ERRORS AND PREVENTION STRATEGIES4and pharmacist (Kane-Gill et al., 2012) while preparation errors occur when the concentration of the drug differs from the one supposed to be administered. In this case, research has shown that 6% of prescriptions prepared by the nurses have a two-time error about the industrially accepted standard (Adapa et al., 2012). Transcription errors originate from handwriting mistakes, use of abbreviation, and sometimes unit misinterpretation which leads to errors in reading. Evidently, the health of the therapeutic drug user is at risk due to supposedly termed human error. The most important thing is to devise mechanisms of preventing the mistakes to ensure the safety of the medication process. Safety for hospitalised patients is both a right of the patients and a priority of the health professionals. It calls for a collaborative approach whereby all the medication process stakeholders are to play a role in reducing the errors. Many healthcare providers have endorsed the interprofessional design as one of the significant ways to cater for the mistakes and restore the sanity of healthcare facilities. One of the interprofessional nursing intervention is by enhancing proper information conveyance and collaboration among the doctors, nurses and pharmacists. There is a necessity for a valuable cooperation of the healthcare professionals in implementing policies, strategies and systems that reduce the medication errors (Adhikari et al., 2014). In a report by Keers et al. (2013), there is evidence of poor communication during medication process. For example, there are experienced delays in the submission of the patient report also delays in the release of medicines. The above scenario breaks down the efficiency of information flow which brings about medication errors. Communication through phone is the dominant way of communication between the healthcare professionals. Sometimes some challenges have been associated with phone use leading to poor communication consequently poor collaboration or teamwork in the
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