(Solved) Essay on Medication Error
Added on 2021-04-19
12 Pages3254 Words837 Views
Running head: MEDICATION ERROR Medication errorName of the StudentName of the UniversityAuthor note
1MEDICATION ERROR According to Institute of Medicine (IOM), patient safety is “an indistinguishable element from delivery of quality of healthcare” (Makary & Daniel, 2016). Patient safety is an important element of an efficient and effective healthcare system and healthcare professionals are engaged in improving patient safety by learning from errors, checking procedures and through effective communication (Ulrich & Kear, 2014). These activities minimize patient harm and ensure safety in the healthcare organization. However, the scenario is different in my organization as there is increasing incidence of medication errors that is hampering patient safety. Moreover, many organizational barriers affect the quality of care and patient safety. Therefore, the following essay involves the discussion of medication error as patient safety issue, evidence-based interventions, technology use and strategies to overcome organizational barriers. Medication errors are divided into four broad categories: lack of knowledge, rule and action- based errors and memory-based errors. Knowledge-based errors occur due to lack of communication between healthcare professionals regarding drug-dose information contributing to prescription errors. The second type of medication is rule-based error where medication is administered at the wrong route. The third type of error is action-based error. This is the most common type error as it occurs because of slips in attention at the time of dispensing, prescribingor drug administration. Technical error is a subset of this error type where there is wrong entry ofamount of drugs. Lastly, memory-based errors where medical staffs administer wrong medicine forgetting about the medical history of the patient (James, 2013). Although, progress has been made in the detection, reporting and learning from patient safety events, improvements are required for enhancing the patient safety and data quality in my organization. Medications errors are leading to poor quality of care and patient deaths that are
2MEDICATION ERROR otherwise preventable in my organization. In the present scenario, medication error is the majorpatient safety issue concerning my organization. Medication errors are giving rise to many patient safety issues. Firstly, incomplete or inappropriate patient information where nurses do not make full entry of patient’s medical information on the chart. As a result, there is missing information that has a direct effect on the health and safety of the patient. The proper documentation of past medical history, current medications, allergies is important as it might alter the whole treatment procedure. Inaccurate drug information is another cause of medication error where nurses or caregivers are not aware of the current drug information due to lack of knowledge and skills (Vogelsmeier et al., 2013). Medication errors are also caused by inadequate communication between healthcare professionals. Miscommunication may occur due to heavy workload, power struggle and lack of situation awareness that compromises patients’ lives. Drug packaging, nomenclature or labelling is another cause of medication error. The delivery of improper medicines or same sounding or looking alike medicines during busy schedules is a common event for medication error hampering patient safety (Starmer et al., 2014). Another contributing factor to medication error isstaff shortages and their lack of competencies. Many nurses may not be aware of the correct administration of drugs that also leads to medication error. Therefore, these factors greatly contribute to medication errors and adverse events causing unintended harm to patients resulting in compromising patient safety and large financial burden to the organization. My organizational standards for addressing medication errors does not align with the principles, concepts and practices of World Health Organization (WHO) that contributes to patient safety and quality improvement. WHO outlines performance requirementsor principlesthat acknowledge medication safety as one of the topmost priorities concerning patient safety.
3MEDICATION ERROR The use of generic names, tailoring of prescribing procedure for patients, learning and practicing medication history, knowledge about high-risk medications, familiarity with medications, following the concept of 5 Rs during prescribing and administration are some of the requirements. In addition, clear communication, reporting and learning from medication errors and encouraging patients to take an active participation in the medication process also helps to acknowledge that medication safety is of paramount importance (Aljadhey et al., 2013).However, the scenario is different at my organization. The steps in medication use and practice involve prescribing, administration and monitoring as outlined by WHO. In my organization, prescribing go wrong in many ways. The nurses have inadequate knowledge aboutdrug contraindications and not aware of patient’s medical history like allergies, co-morbidities and other medications. There is inadequate communication between the professionals that resultsin wrong dose, wrong patient and wrong time. Moreover, the documentation is incomplete, illegible and ambiguous. Mathematical error also occur at the time of dosage calculation and most importantly, incorrect data entry like omission, duplication or wrong number. In contrast to this, WHO recommends that while prescribing medication, medical staffs should choose an appropriate medication as per clinical situation considering patient’s medical history (Leotsakos et al., 2014). The selection of administration route, time, dose and regimen should be appropriatebefore prescribing medication. There should be proper documentation and communication between staffs regarding the medication administration and patient. To avoid sound-a-like or look-a-like medication mixing or ambiguous nomenclature, the medication should be written clearly with accepted local terminology, avoiding trailing zeros (1 instead 1.0) and using leading zeros (0.1 instead of .1) (Quélennec et al., 2013).
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