Medication Management and Safety: Policies, Impact, and Reflection

This assignment reviews and monitors the policies associated with medication management and safety. It then discusses the impact of these policies on health and safety. The assignment then provides reflection from personal practice.

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Task 3
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
Medication management is an important aspect of the health care. High risk
medicines are highly likely to cause significant patient harm or death in case of misuse or
medication error. Every hospital is obliged to ensure medicine safety to reduce cost, minimise
ethical and legal issues. Administration of medicine is needed to ensure professional
accountability while balancing the effectiveness of medical treatments (Holmqvist, Ekstedt,
Walter, and Lehnbom 2018). Safe mediation management increases patient safety and
decrease repeated hospitalisation. Good medication management improves patient outcomes.
The assignment reviews and monitors the policies associated with medication management
and safety. It then discusses the impact of these policies on health and safety. The assignment
then provides reflection from personal practice.
Discussion
Review and monitoring of policies
In UK medication management and prescription of medicine re regulated by complex
of framework of policy, legislation and standards. HQIP commissioned the National Clinical
Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (Simpson et al. 2015). This program conducts audit
to ensure there is compliance to the medication management standards (Nursing and
Midwifery Council 2015). All the nurses and midwifes in UK are mandated by the Nursing
and Midwifery Council (NMC). The NMC standards ensure safe practice in terms of
medication administration and prescription. Adherence to the standards will ensure that the
patent is benefitted (Nursing and Midwifery Council 2015). Prescription of drugs must
consider the efficacy, safety, cost-effectiveness, drug interactions and side effects.
Medication management is considered an vital part of the treatment. It is an important

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measure of professional performance for those who are registered to care for patients
(Nursing and Midwifery Council 2015).
The Human Medicine Regulations 2012 is the law related to the human use of the
medical products. The authorisation of the product includes a comprehensive regime for the
manufacture, sale, supply distribution, advertisement and pharmacovigilence of medical
products. It governs the manufacture and import of the medical products (Farre et al. 2017).
The NMC standards also regulate the supply of the medicines in addition to its
administration. These standards ensure that the supply of the medicines is in alignment with
the prescription forms, medication charts, exemption of medicines Act, patient group
discussions, and home remedy protocols (Nursing and Midwifery Council 2015). Nurses are
responsible for on time reporting of medication error and following events of the patients.
Lack of reporting leads to medication errors that are left unnoticed.
Other than that the NHS England proposes the directives for reporting the medication
errors. It also conducts clinical audits to identify the incidents of medication errors
(England.nhs.uk 2018). These clinical audits ensure that the professionals are accountable for
consequences of medication administration (EnglandNHS 2018). The standards mandate that
the practioners consider any allergic reaction the prescribed medication, ensure right dosage
is given to right patient with right route of administration (England.nhs.uk 2018). The nurses
and midwifes are responsible to report any harm due to medical products. In short the clinical
audits are the source of improvement in the medication services. Medication errors have been
attributed to the shortage of the nurses when compared to number of patients (Ashcroft et al.
2015). To minimise the issue more number of training and learning opportunities are
provided by Health Education England (England, N.H.S. and Care Quality Commission
2014).

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Impact on health and safety
Effective medication management by following the national guidelines and
legislations accelerates patient safety. On the other hand the non-adherence results in
potential harms such as adverse drug reactions due to medication error or wrong dosage. It
may result in repeated hospitalisation, comorbidities, delayed recovery, and decreased patient
outcomes (Ashcroft et al. 2015). Nurses are the front line staff caring for the patient and
hence directly impact the patient’s health and safety. According to Baqir et al. (2014) a very
low nurse is to patient ratio, lack of flexible shift time, long shift hours are found to be factors
contributing to medication error. Further, inappropriate establishment of patient identity in
case of similar names or confusion due to similar drug names are known to be common
issues. Medication error also occurs due to nurse burn out and fatigue (Baqir et al. 2014).
Several governments in UK are focussing on the supply of adequate nurses to minimise
mediation error due to low nurse to patient ratio.
As per literature, there is need of quality training and education programs for
practioners on safe usage of mediations to prevent adverse events. For instances, taking two
medications at a time may have side effect due to drug interactions. Use of NSAIDS is also
associated with the allergic responses in several patients (Zhou et al. 2016). Training will
allow practioners in marinating drug safety and stay committed to promote greatest good of
the patient. Training and education of nurses and midwifes have been noted with positive
impact on patient health. Such programmes allow nurses to work with confidence (McLeod et
al. 2017). Conducting regular feedback session is another effective means to learn the barriers
of practioners in delivery safe medication regime. Regular audits and feedback session
ensures culture of safety in the organisation (Holmqvist, Ekstedt, Walter and Lehnbom 2018).
With these feedbacks it is easy to perceive the knowledge, attitude and beliefs of the nurses in

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regards to medication safety. Based on feedbacks, various strategies may be tailored to
motivate nurses to stay committed to health and safety (EnglandNHS 2018).
.In addition the nurses are obliged to adhere to the hand hygiene policy guided by
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Before contacting the patient
for medication administration, the nurses may perform hand hygiene. It will help decrease the
rate of infection and increase patient safety (Nhs.uk 2018). These guidelines along with the
WHO are five moments of hand hygiene are similar. There is an increasing rate of health
care associated infections and most are preventable. These protocols act as risk management
by reducing the risk of infection when contacting the patient for administration of prescribed
medication (Salmon, Pittet, Sax and McLaws 2015).
Reflection
I value and respect all types of the health care activities. I do take all sorts of
precautions when it comes to medication management as I am committed to culture of safety.
I help people to stay safe and ensure the affordability of the medicines. As the nurse
practioner, I have several responsibilities such as monitor and prevent any acts of medication
error, immediately report any incidents of medication accidents, and maintain transparency. I
had to engage in open and honest communication about medication error with other nurses
which made me more reliable. I value dignity, integrity and caring behaviour. I belief in
equality of the patients and delivering care tailored to their specific needs. I have learnt to
balance the personal values with the patient’s values and that of organisational goals. It helps
me set good example for my fellow nurses and my subordinates. Therefore, I try to meet the
needs of the culturally diverse patients during medication administration. It helped me deliver
the patient-centered care while fulfilling my role in medication management of a 68 year old
dementia patient. It includes preventing the reuse of needles and other materials after

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administration of drugs. My role was to ensure that the nurses done glove before handling
syringes and make sure of safe disposal. I was able to value needs of the patients and educate
her on medication effects and impact of following prescription guidelines. It had led to
patient satisfaction and quick recovery. I would like to say that the result was guided by my
values, commitment to safety, critical thinking and patient-centered nature.
On the other hand it is also my responsibility to ensure that all the medications with
expired date are removed and packed for safe disposal. To increase the safety of medicine, I
do participate in the evidence based practice to learn new drugs and its effectiveness for
concerned care. It helps me keep updated and improve patient outcomes. My virtue of
adherence to the professional standards, code of ethics and code of conduct makes me more
diligent in my work. My virtue of punctuality such as reporting on time, on time medication
administration and addressing any adverse drug affects on patients. It is also my
responsibility to ensure that the nurses follow the hand hygiene policy while contacting the
patient for mediation administration. It has increased my credibility of practice.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that in health care medication management is a vital aspect of
treatment. It is an important measure of the health and safety culture. It is the responsibility
of the health care practioners to promote patient safety at all levels by minimising in juries,
side effects and comorbidities. There are various national guidelines and legislations in place
to prevent medication error and associated harm. However, lack of compliance to these rules
and regulations have increased rate of medication error, comorbidities and mortality. There is
a need of regular audit to identify such non-compliance and ensure penalty. It will lead to
strict adherence to the NICE and NHS guidelines and consequently medication safety culture.

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