Medication Error: Causes, Types, and Effects

Running head: MEDICATION ERROR 1
Medication Error
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

MEDICATION ERROR 2
Executive Summary
This report aims to explore the causes, types, and effects of medication errors. The
methodology that the investigators used to collect data is the issuance of questionnaires to five
hundred patients in Melbourne. The participants had the task of disclosing information on the
types, effects, and causes of medication errors in Australian hospitals. 60% of the participants
stated that mistakes were due to workload and unfavorable shift hours in the health facilities. The
remaining 40% attributed the errors to the inexperience of individual nurses and possible
conditions. Therefore, the causes of the clinical errors are workload, shift hours, the ignorance of
caregivers, and underlying work conditions.
There are eight types of medication errors which include prescription, omission, and
wrong timing of dosage. Improper dosing, wrong dosage, and improper technique of
administration are the other kinds of clinical mistakes. The other two errors occur due to the
fragmented relationship between the caregivers and the wrong preparation of drugs. Medication
errors have an undesirable effect on the patient, caregiver, and the health facility. The errors
endanger the health of the patients as severe mistakes can lead to the death of patients. The
mistakes destroy the reputation of caregivers and lead to their sacking by the hospital
administration. Clinical errors destroy the public image of the hospital and can lead to its closure
by the government. The health facilities should employ more employees to reduce the workload
on caregivers. The hospital administration should not allow an inexperienced nurse to write
prescriptions as a method of reducing medication mistakes. The government should install
equipment that detects and correct medical errors. In conclusion, the implementation of the
above recommendations can eliminate clinical errors and improve the quality of medical
treatment.

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Introduction
A medication mistake is a preventable occurrence that causes the inappropriate use of
medication by the patient (Roughead, Semple, & Rosenfeld, 2016). Caregivers are responsible
for a majority of the mistakes; however, the hospital system and the government are also
responsible for the errors. The mistakes occur during events like prescription, administration, and
intake of drugs. Australian hospitals have been registering less than five percent of errors due to
the advanced health care system in the country (Hayes, Jackson, Davidson, & Power, 2015).
Nurses commit errors when deciding on the appropriate administration route for various drugs.
The fragmented relationship between caregivers in different departments also leads to clinical
mistakes. The prescription of a wrong dosage and inaccurate intervals of drug intake can be
detrimental to the health of patients.
The long working hours overstretch caregivers hence making them vulnerable to
mistakes. Clinical errors are rampant during the dayshifts due in no small number of patients that
visit the hospital during those periods. Inexperienced nurses also commit more mistakes than
their experienced counterparts. Latent conditions such as distractions make nurses to make
mistakes during prescription. This report will explore the causes, types, and effects of medication
errors. The write-up will also suggest recommendations to eliminate the errors.
Literature Review
Methodology
Five hundred patients took part in the medication error study. The patients were to fill
questionnaires about the types of medication mistakes and the causes of those errors.
Additionally, the search clients were also to state the effects of the errors and possible solutions.

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The researchers vowed not to disclose the identity of the patients. The investigators analyzed the
data by using SPSS.
Discussion
Causes of Medication Errors
Workload, shift hours, and Time of Admission are prime determinants of medication
errors. Nurses who work for long hours in the health facilities make numerous mistakes than
those that stay on duty for a few hours (Clendon, & Gibbons, 2015). Therefore, wards that have a
large number of patients are prone to errors than wards with few clients. Clinical mistakes are
numerous during the day than in evening and night shifts (Rhéaume, & Mullen, 2018). The
number of prescriptions at daytime is higher than those written during the other shift hours.
Additionally, patients visit health facilities at noontime than at any other time during the day;
hence, a high number of mistakes at that time. Nurses who are overworked are vulnerable to
mistakes since they are exhausted due to their busy schedules. Therefore, the number of
prescriptions and patients are the primary determinants of clinical mistakes. A high number of
clients and prescriptions elevate the number of medication errors.
The medical experience of staff members also determines the occurrence of clinical
mistakes. Recent studies have indicated that inexperienced caregivers are prone to medication
errors than their experienced counterparts (Cloete, 2015). However, specific research proposals
do not link the drug mistakes to the level of physician experience. A majority of hospitals
encounter numerous errors due to the recruitment of new members of staff due to the
inexperience of the recruits. Therefore, fresh nursing graduates register more errors that the
nurses who have been practicing for an extended time. The lack of drug knowledge also makes
nurses commit medical mistakes (Cabilan, Eley, Hughes, & Sinnott, 2016). Specific caregivers