ATHC 2: Medication Safety Report - Analysis and Strategies

This report delves into the critical issue of medication errors within the healthcare sector, emphasizing their detrimental impact on patient safety. It identifies poor communication between healthcare professionals, misinterpretation of medical prescriptions and abbreviations, and work-related stress as primary contributors to these errors. The report underscores the significance of accurate documentation, adherence to the five rights of medication administration, and the need for healthcare professionals to understand look-alike and sound-alike medications. It also stresses the importance of effective communication, the use of 'read it back' techniques, and the creation of a healthy workplace environment to reduce errors. Finally, it provides actionable strategies that healthcare professionals can implement to significantly minimize medication errors, improve patient outcomes, and enhance the overall quality of care.

Written report: Medication Safety
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Introduction
Medication error can be defined as an inaccuracy in the treatment process of the patient, which can
result in the complication of the medical condition of the patient and thus, lead to potential harm of
the patient and in turn decrease patient safety (Cloete, 2015). This can occur at any step of the
treatment process- from incorrect drug administration to alteration of the treatment procedure al
together to applying the wrong nursing interventions and strategies while providing care for the
patient. The evident increase of medication errors have led to the reduced percentage of people
receiving quality therapeutic services and benefits. The most common medication errors are related
to accuracy in infusion rates and drug dosages. This causes a decrease in the patient safety and
increased hospital admissions. This can further lead to increased patient stay under hospital care,
which results in the increase of medication cost behind rectifying these errors (Cloete, 2015).
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Poor communication : One of the most common reasons behind the increased incidence of medical
error is poor communication between the nurse and the patient as well as between nurse and
doctor. Communication is a very crucial tool in healthcare setting, which when used effectively can
be used to help them identify the medical condition of the patient properly to help in the accurate
treatment of the patient (Www2.health.vic.gov.au, 2019). Nurses use this tool to build trust
between the patient and their healthcare providers, and doctors use incorporate this tool to convey
relevant and important information to the nurse, in order to accurately carry out the treatment
procedure (Ozaras and Abaan, 2016). Thus poor communication in healthcare setting can be
detrimental for the health of the patient and might increase the patient mortality rate, by increasing
the incidence of medication errors in the treatment process. This can thus negatively affect the
patient outcomes of the hospital.
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Incorrect interpretation of medical prescriptions and drug abbreviations :The third most common
form of medication error is the confusion between the healthcare professionals regarding similar
drugs that either look alike or sound similar. This can also be the misinterpretation of the medical
abbreviations mentioned in medical charts and prescriptions, by healthcare individuals. This form of
error is mainly due to the lack of medical knowledge between the healthcare professionals. This
error thus, leads to the administration or prescription of incorrect medications to the patient, which
increases the extent of adverse drug reactions in the patients, detrimentally affecting their health by
complicating their medical condition (Roughead, Semple and Rosenfeld, 2016). Thus, this affects
the safety of the patient as it can lead to the increase in the incidence of medication errors like
administering the wrong medication, dosage or following the incorrect infusion rate. This can
further affect the decision making and problem solving abilities of the nurses as well as the doctors.
However, it has been observed that effectively dealing with the workload is directly proportional to
the level of experience of the staff members (Parry, Barriball and While, 2015).
Work- related to stress :Healthcare sector employees are known to have heavy workload, which can
detrimentally affect their effectiveness and productivity, and as a result have a direct effect on the
safety of the patient. This is because of the decreased accuracy of the service provided by the
nurses, when under prolonged work stress. This mental burnout of the healthcare professionals can
further lead to the development of negativity in the workplace leading to straining of the
relationship between them and thus creating a discrepancy in the quality of the service provided
(Summers, 2017).
Conclusion
Poor communication, build-up of work stress, and incorrect interpretation are some of the most
common reasons for the increased incidence of medication errors in the healthcare sector. Thus, as
a registered nurse, I would require to first make sure that accurate documentation is done during
the admission process of the patient. Upon admission and after the doctor’s visit, during the
administration of the prescribed drugs, five rights of medication administration are followed. We
would require documenting each and every medication administered, test done, and symptom of
the patient in the medical chart of that patient, to ensure accuracy of the treatment procedure. I will
need to learn the medical abbreviations of the medication, especially the look alike and sound alike
drugs or put up a detailed chart to ensure that correct medications are being administered to the
patients. Nurses are also required to learn how to properly manage emergency situations and
reduce discomfort of the patients. During these times, I would need to ensure that accurate
information is conveyed between the healthcare professionals and that stress is managed properly
to prevent employee burnout and facilitate increased patient safety and satisfaction. Thus, in
conclusion, healthcare professionals can implement many important and achievable strategies
which will help in the significant reduction of medication errors in a healthcare setting (Gorgich,
Barfroshan, Ghoreishi and Yaghoobi, 2015). They are:
Effective communication between healthcare professionals: The most common factor of
medication errors is the lack of proper communication between the patient, nurses, doctors and
other healthcare professionals. Thus, the most effective way to reduce the incidence of medication
errors is to increase the effectiveness of the communication process. This can be achieved, if the
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healthcare providers are encouraged to respect each other and their views (Wang et al., 2018). The
authorities and superiors should encourage rapport building, by putting the healthcare providers in
teams or groups, to provide them an opportunity to communicate and build a healthy working
relationship. The best strategies that can be employed to strengthen the efficacy between patient
and nurses are active listening, com passion empathy, showing interest in the patient’s views and
opinions, as well as respecting the patient’s privacy and beliefs.
Following the ‘Read it back’ technique for accurate documentation: One of the most effective ways
to prevent discrepancies in the execution of the treatment procedure of a patient is by accurately
documenting each and every step, beginning from the admission of the patient up to their discharge
(Roughead, Semple and Rosenfeld, 2016). The strategy, which has been deemed to increase the
accuracy of the treatments provided, by decreasing the incidence of medication errors, is the
rechecking of the observations made and the data documented. This process includes the ‘read it
back’ procedure of the nurse reading out the prescription to the physician, to ensure that the
prescribed medicine is transcribed accurately. Thus, to manage the proper exchange of information,
especially regarding prescription of medications, the e-message technique is used, to avoid this
controllable error (Foged, Nørholm, Andersen and Petersen, 2017). This process, not only prevents
misunderstanding, but also helps increase the efficacy of the provided healthcare service.
Healthy workplace environment: Workplace stress in the healthcare sector is imminent, given their
responsibility to improve the patient’s health. However, if this workload or stress is not controlled,
this can strain the professional relationships between the healthcare providers which can
detrimentally affect the patient’s overall safety (Russell, Anstey & Wells, 2015). Thus, authorities and
superiors should make sure that the stress is distributed among the workforce equally. They should
further indulge the employees to different recreational activities to lower their stress. The
healthcare facilities should not only make sure that the views and opinions of their employees are
heard but also foster interpersonal and inter-professional safety to improve working conditions and
increase employee satisfaction. Thus, implementing these three main strategies can help in the
accuracy of drug prescription, administration and improve the patient outcome and quality of life
(Berdot et al., 2016).
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