Medication Errors in Australia: Prevalence, Causes, and Prevention Strategies

Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................1
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................2
References.............................................................................................................................................3
Introduction
Medication error refers to the careless and inappropriate administration of
medicine and drugs which will cause damage to organs and can initiate
severe complications. In hospitals nurses are the one who is responsible
to read doctors prescribed medicines for the patient with appropriate dose
and administer it to the patient inefficiency in doing so can cause
medication errors. Self-administration of drugs like OTC that is on the
counter drugs which a person can easily get at a medical store are also
responsible for medical errors in history with wrong dosage and
inappropriate administration of drugs. This essay uncovers the statistical
analysis of incidence and prevalence of medication error throughout
Australia and the main cause of these errors.
1

Nurses are to provide healthy and safe care to the patient and medication
error is one of the most occurring mistakes which present as a barrier in
efficient care production. Every healthcare professional one or the other
time in his life encounters this issue of wrong administration of medicine
and the cause can be various. Wrongly administration of medicine can be
caused due to wrong reading of prescription, double prescription without
checking, ill knowledge of drugs, unskilled administration of drugs, and
inappropriate method of administration and wrong dose of administration.
Nichols et al, 2008 stated that majority of error in hospitals in Australia
occurred due to slips in attention during routine prescribing,
administrating and dispensing of drugs followed by mistakes due to
insufficient knowledge. This research also proved that majority of staff
members are unaware of producing such errors and also communication
lacks between senior staff adds to medication errors.
In order to measure the prevalence and incidence of medication error in
Australia the researches are followed which states that for every three
patients admitted to a hospital there is prevalence rate of two patients to
undergo medication error (Nguyen, 2018). Ill concentration and
interruptions while administration of drugs is also a major cause of
medication error in Australia, according to the research by Westbrook et
al, 2010 every interruption is directly proportional to increase in
procedural error and medication errors by 12.1%. This correlation
between the interruptions and errors was not linked to nurse of hospital
employee’s characteristics. From all drug administrations in hospital
studied 53.1% cases were exposed to medication error. This research
shows that unwilling and due to ill concentration the risk of medication
errors increases by greater percentage. Laboratory research has clearly
made it evident that the risk of errors in medication administration
increases by increased interruptions and promote inefficiency in
procedures.
The main medication error due to wrong administration or method of
administration occurs in intravenous administration of drugs. Intravenous
2

administration is not a task that can be done without skills it requires skills
and knowledge for correct introduction. Westbrook et al, 2011 provide
research evidence that out of 568 intravenous administrations provided in
hospital 69.7% faced medication errors with either of the cause that is
wrong rate, mixture and volume or drug compatibility. This shows that
skills are highly required for intravenous administration of drugs as in
most of the cases in hospitals. Ill knowledge regarding the rate of flow of
medication caused highest incidence of error and procedure failure.
It has been established by several studies that through effective
leadership qualities, nurses can actually enhance patient safety and
improve patient outcomes. With good leadership and better manager
support, risks are better identified in healthcare and the chances of
medication errors reduce (Hertig, et al. 2016). Further, Transformational
leadership phenomenon is a recent upgrade in nursing education which
will enhance the nurses to identify and prevent medication errors by
moulding the creativity, motivational quality and behaviour of nurse
towards the issue of medication safety in healthcare (Choo, Hutchinson
&Bucknall, 2010).To overcome this problem of medication error which is
depleting the quality of care in Australia various preventive and
management measures are implemented. Use of computerized
prescribing system with clinical decision support is most effective. This
system is introduced with smart computerized support which will reduce
medication abbreviation errors and errors due to ill clinical knowledge.
Double checking of the prescription by nurses with use of technical
support to ensure the dosage and method of administration proved to be
very effective in reducing the incidence of medication error
((Semple&Roughead, 2009).
Conclusion
Medication error is threat to healthcare and prevention is more important
than management. Errors include various causes so it can be concluded
that the causes of medication errors should be assessed and analysed to
prevent this healthcare issue.
3