Nursing Practice: Reflection on Medication Errors Due to Interruptions

This critical reflection explores a nursing event that led to medication errors due to interruptions from other nurses. The reflection makes use of Gibb’s reflective cycle to analyze the incident and offers an action plan to prevent future errors.

Running head: Nursing Practice 1
Nursing Practice
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Nursing Practice 2
URL of e-portfolio:
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Portfolio
My name is Fatima Alizadeh, and I am currently enrolled in the Western Sydney University
studying Bachelors degree in Health Sciences and have so far passed all units. I have also
completed the Higher School Certificate (HSC) and preliminary HSC. I am an individual who
can work well with other team members due to my ability to make friends and engage other
team members. It is because of this that I have a good rapport with other students and
lecturers. I am also trustworthy, and I have experienced this during my clinical placement in
which I have treated patient information with confidentiality and also assured them of the
same.
Additionally, I am a problem solver, and I always help other team members in resolving
issues that need critical thinking. For example, I am consulted most of the times when we
have a stubborn patient who needs to be talked to and convinced to be cooperative to receive
medication. I have cumulatively five-year experience in different industries as a supervisor,
cashier, waitress, general duties assistant and kitchen hand, and also as a customer service
executive. My objective is to work as an occupational therapy Assistant in the future.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
I had previously enrolled for a one-week seminar on effective customer service organized by
Woolworths supermarkets when I worked there as a supervisor of the customer service
department. I also completed a professional certificate in guidance and counseling at Western

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Sydney University in addition to attending the Mental Health Seminar organized by Western
Sydney University in 2018. I plan to enroll for a certification course in writing and
communication skills to improve my communication and writing skills. Furthermore, I plan
to attend workshops on clinical placements organized by the county referral hospital in order
to enhance my clinical placement skills. Professional training in behavioral therapy is
necessary since I plan to practice as an Occupational Therapy Assistant. As a result of this, I
plan to undertake additional certification courses on behavioral therapies to enable me to
acquire expert skills on how to handle a variety of clients. I am optimistic that at the
completion of the course and expected training I will become a qualified member of the
Sydney Nurses’ Association after acquiring additional knowledge regarding occupational
therapy, clinical placements, ethical and safe work practices, effective writing and
communication skills in the planned seminars and workshops.

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Curriculum Vitae
Personal Details
Fatima Alizadeh
35 Richardson Street, Merrylands NSW 2160
Mobile: [phone]
Home: 9613 0666
E-Mail: [e-mail]
QUALIFICATIONS
February 2016 – Present Barchelors Degree in Health Sciences
Western Sydney University
Sep 2014 – Oct 2015 Completed Higher School Certificate – HSC
Macarthur Girls High School
Jan 2014 – Sep 2014 Completed Preliminary HSC Course
Macarthur Girls High School
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
August 2016 – Present Supervisor
Service Department: Woolworths Supermarket
Main Duties - Task Delegation
- Monitoring the performance of the team
- Assisting the team by undertaking some of the tasks
- Reporting to senior management
July 2014 – Aug 2016 Cashier
Terrace Persian Café and Restaurant
Main Duties -Handling client complaints
- Welcoming and Greeting clients
- Counting and handling cash
Dec 2013 – May 2014 Customer Service Executive
Nando’s Chicken Shop

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Main Duties - Transactions handling
- Customer relations
- Complaints handling
- Store management store
REFEREES
- Heena 0450 969 882
Manager, Terrace Persian Café and Restaurant
- Yannick Brun 0421 759 792
Former Manager, Terrace Persian Café and Restaurant
Character Referee
- Sabur Sarmed 0437 381 929
NSW / ACT Local Sourcing Manager, Woolworths Limited
Interests: Gym, Spending time with friends and family, Playing Volleyball

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Reflection
Introduction
Interruptions during medication preparation and administration lead to medication errors
(Johnson et al., 2017). This critical reflection will make use of Gibb’s reflective cycle (Gibbs,
1988) to explore a nursing event that led to medication errors due to interruptions from other
nurses. The actual incident involved an adult patient who was served food by another nurse
and yet the patient was scheduled for surgery and indeed underwent surgery.
Description
In 2018 while working at the Sydney Hospital as an assistant nurse, a 50-year-old man was in
critical condition when undergoing surgery at the hospital. James Olet, who was the nurse on
duty had documented all the information regarding the patient and handed over the file to
Jane White who was busy in conversation with another nurse regarding their ward
experiences during that day. Unfortunately, Jane did not capture the fact that the patient being
handed over to her was awaiting surgery and should not, therefore, take heavy meals. As a
result, Jane supervised the patient being served food and did not even remember to notify the
surgeon of the same. Consequently, the patient underwent surgery and the blood pressure
became unstable in addition to incidences of vomiting while under operation.
Feelings.
I felt awful when I learned of this scenario because I overheard James explain to Jane, the
status of the patient while handling over. It was quite cynical for me on how Jane could miss
such critical information. This incidence reminded me of the fact that nurses have the crucial
role of ensuring the safety and responsibility of the patients (Nadzam, 2009).
Evaluation
This is a consequence of interruptions by other nurses while on duty. Biron, Loiselle, and
Lavoie‐Tremblay (2009) observes that nurse interruptions regardless of the reason for
interruption leads to medical errors, reduced patient and nurse time, time wastage
(Westbrook, Duffield, & Creswick, 2011) and as a result low-quality health services
(Westbrook, Woods, Rob, Dunsmuir, & Day, 2010).
Analysis

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Attending to other issues or interruptions during nursing times leads to the negligence and
medication errors among nurses. This can be prevented by offering training and designing
organizational policies that regulate clinical placements (Anderson, Townsend, & CCRN-
CMC, 2010).
Conclusion
It is the role of nurses to exercise due diligence when handling patients and to avoid any
interruption not associated with the specific activity at the given time
Action plan
I have learned that interruptions may not be wrong, but as long as they are not directly related
to the present activity of medication, they should be avoided as they are likely to lead to
dangerous medication errors (Keers, Williams, Cooke, & Ashcroft, 2013).

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References
Anderson, B. P., Townsend, T., & CCRN-CMC, C. B. (2010). Medication errors. American
Nurse Today, 23-27.
Biron, A. D., Loiselle, C. G., & Lavoie‐Tremblay, M. (2009). Work interruptions and their
contribution to medication administration errors: an evidence review. Worldviews on
Evidence
‐Based Nursing, 6(2), 70-86.
Gibbs, G. (1988). Learning by doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Further
Education Unit .
Johnson, M., Sanchez, P., Langdon, R., Manias, E., Levett‐Jones, T., Weidemann, G., ... &
Everett, B. (2017). The impact of interruptions on medication errors in hospitals: an
observational study of nurses. Journal of nursing management, 25(7), 498-507.
Keers, R. N., Williams, S. D., Cooke, J., & Ashcroft, D. M. (2013). Causes of medication
administration errors in hospitals: a systematic review of quantitative and qualitative
evidence. Drug safety, 36(11), 1045-1067.
Nadzam, D. M. (2009). Nurses' role in communication and patient safety. Journal of Nursing
Care Quality, 24(3), 184-188.
Westbrook, J. I., Duffield, C., Li, L., & Creswick, N. J. (2011). How much time do nurses
have for patients? A longitudinal study quantifying hospital nurses' patterns of task
time distribution and interactions with health professionals. BMC Health Services
Research, 11(1), 319.
Westbrook, J. I., Woods, A., Rob, M. I., Dunsmuir, W. T., & Day, R. O. (2010). Association

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of interruptions with an increased risk and severity of medication administration
errors. Archives of Internal medicine, 170(8), 683-690.