Errors Involved in Medication Procedures

Running head: ERRORS INVOLVED IN MEDICATION PROCEDURES 1
Errors Involved in Medication Procedures
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ERRORS INVOLVED IN MEDICATION PROCEDURES 2
Introduction
Today, there are several issues the healthcare sector is facing. The diverse and complex
nature of the healthcare sector has made these problems to evolve. This paper explores the
medical errors being faced by healthcare organizations. Errors in medication involves the failure
that occurs within the process of treatment which has the possibility of causing the patient harm.
Medication errors often occur when choosing the type of dosage regimen suitable for a patient.
As much as there are instances when medication errors can be serious, they are occasionally
treated as trivial. Nevertheless, it is vital for them to be detected because system failures which
lead to minor errors are most likely to result in serious errors later.
Classification of Medication Errors
Various steps that are involved in the medical chain right from the moment prescription is
made to when the drug gets to the patient, there is plenty of errors that occur in the process.
Nonetheless, crucial enhancements can be made to prevent medical errors. There is a proposed
classification structure that is founded on a psychological approach that enables people to
identify and categorize various errors then come up with intervention necessary for their
prevention (Schmidt, Taylor & Pearson, 2017). Medication errors are often classified based on
where they take place in the cycle of medical use. For instance, they can occur during the
prescription, administration, or dispensing of the drug.
Prescribing Errors
Prescribing errors can be described as incorrect selection of drugs for the patient. These
kinds of errors comprise of dosage, quantity, prescription of a disputed drug or indication.
Lacking knowledge concerning the prescribed drug, the recommended dosage and the

ERRORS INVOLVED IN MEDICATION PROCEDURES 3
knowledge about patients often lead to instances of prescribing errors (Schmidt, Taylor &
Pearson, 2017). Similarly, other factors that lead to prescribing errors include giving out verbal
orders, confusing the name of the drug, using an abbreviation, unreadable handwriting, and
inaccurate medical history.
Despite the presence of prescribing errors, there are ways in which these kinds of errors
can be prevented in the field of medicine. One of the ways is by using an electronic method of
prescribing. Electronic prescribing is vital since it can help in the reduction of prescribing errors
which occur as a result of unreadable handwriting (Cohen, 2016). Automated physician order
entry systems eradicate the demand for transcription of various medical orders by nurses as well
as the need for pharmacy staff to interpret the order (Rodziewicz & Hipskind, 2019). This system
has been identified for having vital effects in the reduction of medical errors.
Dispensing Errors
Dispensing errors are bound to emerge from any stage on the course of the dispensing
process. It can be either from when the prescription is received in the pharmacy or when then the
dispensed medicine is being supplied to the patient. Dispensing errors often take place between
the rate of 1-24% which includes a selection of the product or strength (Tariq & Scherbak, 2019).
This mostly occurs on drugs having the same appearances or names. For instance, Losec and
Lasix are some of the proprietary names that tend to appear similar when handwritten (Cohen,
2016). The Food and Drug Administration in the US has called for Losec to change its
proprietary name due to the growing fatalities caused by the confusion. Another drug pair that
often cause confusion is amlodipine 5 and amiloride 5 tablets (Cohen, 2016). Some possible
dispensing errors consist of the wrong drug, wrong dose, and wrong patient. Using electronic