HCM 600 | Research Project | Impact of Knowledge and Attitude on Medication errors and Safety Improvement in the Pharmacy Department

Master of Healthcare Administration
HCM 600 Research Project
Impact of Knowledge and Attitude on Medication errors and Safety Improvement in the
Pharmacy Department
Abstract
Medication error in medical is defined by as a preventable occasion that is caused by use of
inappropriate medication that results to adversative drug reaction (ADR) episode in patients.
Different tactics have been anticipated to reduce medical errors, adverse drug reaction being one
of them. The current study was premeditated to evaluate the attitude, knowledge and practice of
the students dealing with medical practice towards medical errors and adverse drug reaction
reports.
The research population was 167 medical students from King Saud University Medical
City. The legalized items connected to KAP was given to each member before
and after the research. Demographic structures of the members have no
significant difference. The informative intervention, in the curriculum of
medical students, and hold interactive clerkship in health care can improve
the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding the adversative drug reaction
reports and moderate the unnecessary medical errors.
Introduction
Medication errors occurs broadly on various steps that includes dispensing, transcribing,
prescribing and administration .It has decreased due to use of computerized physician order
administration than hand written prescription (HWP).Numerous approaches have been suggested
in detection and of the occurrence of medical errors and the way of reducing it.Adverse drug
reaction is the common approach used and mostly employed in high risk industries such as

hospitals (MQ, 2015). The healthcare organization has encouraged reporting of the medication
error and implement clear policies and guideline that encourage the healthcare provider.
Medication error reporting is the responsibility of the health care but the system is not
deliberated to determine the error rates. Though it is a safety enhanced method that takes the
benefit of astute perception of employees, which includes the principal care clinicians and other
office staff involved in the treating process, in detection of the problems that may modify the
policies, system and procedures of the quality improvement method (Kaae S, 2015). There are
5 stages involved in the ordering and delivery in the pharmacy department.it includes;
monitoring, administration, dispensing, transcription and prescription. Each phase represents a
susceptible link in the chain along a diversity of medical errors. The most joint stages that are
associated with medical error are inadequate knowledge on drug prescription and knowledge
concerning the patient whom drug is prescribed (Hickner J, 2010).
Yellow cards are the commonly tool used in the reporting system of adverse drug reaction. An
inquiries that is used in demonstration of adverse drug reaction is a significant clinical subject,
which can be entered the expensive costs of NHS and stern ADRs that can result to death.
Conferring to the World Health Organization the science and activities linking to the assessment,
detection, prevention and understanding of adversative impacts or any other drug problem is
called pharmacovigilance (Joolaee S, 2011). Training consultants provide a wide range of
medical error reporting programmes considering that many corporations have begun considering
the safety of their patient an issue of significance. Reducing the financial cost of a result of the
adverse selection reaction as a result of the malpractice. Improve the medication error reporting
enhance patient safety by correcting the bad practice by good one has a direct impact on patient
lives.
Pharmacist play the most significant role in provision of a defense mechanism in prevention of
medication error from getting into the patients. This role further advances as part of a strategy in
reduction of medication errors. Regular teaching of the drug usage can be used as a tool of
familiarizing new pharmacist with the format of drug protocols, drug charts and medication
regimens that is associated with the medical errors. New pharmacist to the unit possibly will be
joined in the related sessions that are apprehended specifically for the pharmacy staff, which

could be used in debating the medicational errors that have recently occurred. All pharmacist
must attend the session of learning every year.
Discussion
Health care professional plays a very significant role in reducing the medication errors. Other
methods used in reduction process includes; the introduction of computerized physician order
entry and the adversative drug reaction reporting which has led to advancement in detection and
prevention of the medical errors (Ivy Bourgeault, 2010).
From the result above it can be seen that the medical student have deprived knowledge, attitude
and practice to the medical error and they are not aware of the significant role of reducing it.
Patient safety overview in error detection and reporting verse ethics, human approach, and safety
tools are based on the interactive clerkship. Awareness of the patient on the medical error is by
use of appropriate and experiential curriculum (C., 2010). Findings described by the medical
students were conscious of the responsibility of adverse drug reaction reports and appropriate
attitude towards it (Austin Z S. , 2014).
Health care professional had a meagre knowledge and attitude towards pharmacovigilance the
adverse drug reaction and among the participants who have not reported even a single ADR to
the medical Centre. Facts of the ADR among the clinicians, the rate of reporting was less. The
study give emphasis to the education and exercise which are most acknowledged by the means of
advancing the ADR reporting. (C.., 2015) Thus, the proper training and appropriate curriculum
is the alternative way of improving the knowledge and attitude towards the ADRs reporting on
medical errors. This results to proper identification of causes of medication errors. Educational
presentation and intervention of the interactive research in the health care professional to report
on the critical enhancement of the practice and reduces the preventable medication error (Q.
Ashton Acton, 2012).
Medication use is a complex process that benefits from the interpretation and a regular
evaluation. There are 5 stages involved in the ordering and delivery in the pharmacy
department.it includes; monitoring, administration, dispensing, transcription and prescription.
Each phase represents a susceptible link in the chain along a diversity of medical errors. The