A Reflection on a Clinical Experience: Medication Errors

Running Head: MEDICATION ERRORS 1
A Reflection on a Clinical Experience: Medication Errors
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MEDICATION ERRORS 2
Medication is an important nursing responsibility and skill even though it takes
nurses a long time to master the skill (Jarvill et al., 2018). Errors during the administration
of medicines to patients have escalated with time and can put the safety of patients at risk
(Ofusu & Jarret, 2015). The principles of beneficence and non-maleficence require nurses to
maximize good while administering care to patients and not cause harm. This issue of error
in medication does not only involve wrong calculations of doses but also the number of
doses administered to patients in a day. I preferred this aspect of care (medication) because I
happen to have witnessed a nurse administering a wrong dose to one of her elderly patients.
The nurse did not look at the patient's medical chart before administering the medicine to
the patient. Later on, it occurred to her that the dose had already been administered to the
patient. She therefore firmly stated that the patient should stay in bed for six hours.
Nurses are expected to be very careful when administering care to patients
especially when dealing with vulnerable groups of people. The nurse should have checked
the patient’s medical chart before administering the dose. Consistent cross-checking of a
patient’s medical chart and records should be at the fingertips of every nurse. The nurse
failed in her professional obligation to patients. Moreover, the nurse did not consult her
colleagues on how to go about the issue. She instead firmly requested the patient to stay in
bed for six hours. The National law of Australia and the Nurses and Midwifery Board of
Australia requires nurses to mandatorily report any information that may affect a patient’s
health especially if the patient is very vulnerable (Nursing and Midwifery Board of
Australia, 2014). In this case study, the patient was aged but the nurse did not report the
issue of wrong administration of a dose.
The major reason why nurses could be making errors in medication is that of
insufficient knowledge of medication; mainly in drug management (Simonsen et al., 2014).
The constant increase in the number of errors in the administration of medicines means that
there is a gap in the nursing education system in Australia. The nursing education needs to
be planned and implemented well in order to improve the quality of patients’ care. If the
nurse had enough knowledge, she might not have administered a wrong dose to the patient.
Therefore, it is necessary that the skills of nurses in drug management constantly sharpened
in order to avoid the compromise of a patient’s safety.
I think the nurse neglected her duty of care owed to patients so I was actually
infuriated. What if it would have been her victim? Nurses have a duty to care for patients
and administer quality care especially to the vulnerable groups of people. The patient
probably felt short-changed by the nurse. The patient expected the nurse to take care of her