Medication Error Essay

Interview on Reporting Medication Errors This assignment is about interviewing and discussing with a pharmacist methods to report medication errors per facility’s policy and ways to encourage nurses to report medication errors promptly. This was a face-to-face interview with pharmacist BB at work. He is a qualified professional pharmacist and appropriate for this assignment.

Pharmacy technicians work under the supervision of a pharmacist helping prepare and give out medications. It is very crucial for a pharmacy technician to be aware of their work at all times and check their work more than once. Pharmacy technicians need to ensure any medication they have prepared has been done properly, if not that could potentially harm the patients. Pharmacist trust their technicians will always follow system-based processes and provide an extra layer of safety. Working as a pharmacy technician it is important to communicate with the pharmacist and address any questions or concerns, not asking a simple question could cost the life of a patient.

Reporting medication errors is beneficial to improve the learning process for nurses. The factors of workload, ineffective communication, and distraction all contribute to medication errors (Sears et al., 2013). Nurses often excuse the behavior of colleagues when a medication error occurs, or nurses will pass the buck to a senior nurse to report the medication error (Haw, Stubbs and Dickens, 2014). Implementing a no blame policy for reporting medication errors, and providing nurses with the knowledge and training to report medication errors will result in an increase of medication errors reported.

The given reason being nurses are not likely to report the errors and only when clinincal consequences arise are they discovered. The focus of the Dalmolin, Rotta, & Goldim, (2013) study was to evalualte the medication errors for the types, seriousness, and medication groups involved. The study was conducted at the Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre(HCPA) between January 2010 and December 2011. The study was conducted using a retrospective and cross-sectional study process. The study used data on medication errors, that was submitted to the Group for Safe Use of Medications.

This article define medication errors and when occur these medication administration errors (MAEs) such as one or more of the seven rights of medication administration (right patient, right drug, right dose, right time, right route, right reason and right documentation) are violated. Moreover, the writers suggest study more about nurses’ knowledges with and perceptions on preventing MAEs through this journal. Wulff, K., Cummings, G. G., Marck, P., & Yurtseven, O. (2011). Medication administration technologies and patient safety: a mixed-method systematic review. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 67(10), 2080-2095.

Medication errors can be very dangerous for the ones taking the wrong medicines or doses; therefore, safety measures must be in place. Administering them must be done with an understanding and focus. One missed check could have a staff member giving a resident the wrong set of pills. Some interventions to help prevent the medication error from occurring is to first report errors. When errors are reported, the main cause is to try and never let the error occur again.

The prevention of medication errors is a process that should involve all staff in the emergency department. Yes, it is the registered nurse (RN) that administers the medication. However, patient safety is a concern in which all staff can assist. According to Kim and Bates (2013) medication errors represent one of the major concerns in patient safety. The process of medication administration first starts when the RN receives the order. From there the nurse must use the Pxysis dispensing system to obtain the medication. The problems noted in the emergency department (ED) at Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center (FHMMC) has been distractions while the nurse is obtaining and preparing the medications. The issue is the Pxysis systems in the ED are not in closed rooms, they are located in the open at the nursing stations. This issue allows distractions while the nurse is obtaining the medications from the Pxysis.

Transitions in care, such as admission to and discharge from the hospital, put patients at risk for errors due to poor communication and inadvertent information loss (1–5). One discrepancy does not necessarily mean an error. In fact, most discrepancies are due to adapting chronic medication to the patient’s newly diagnosed condition, or because the examinations and/or interventions performed could interfere with their usual medication. Medication discrepancies, established as unexplained differences among documented drug regimens at the interfaces of care1 (admission, transfer, and discharge) are highly prevalent. Some are intended therapeutic modifications, but others are unintentional and clinically unjustified.

Medication Errors in Healthcare The nursing profession entails many responsibilities that range from providing emotional support to administering medications that could result in death for those receiving care. Approximately 40% of a nurse's day consists of passing medication, a duty that sets their level of liability above many other healthcare professions (McCuistion, Vuljoin-DiMaggio, Winton, Yeager, & Kee, 2018). Despite today's advances in technology and nursing education, the frequency of medication errors is still staggering. To ensure that the benefits of nursing outweigh the risks, nurses look to the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) six core competencies for guidance.

Medication errors are preventable adverse events and costly to patients, insurance companies and health care organizations (Institute of Medicine, 2006). It is estimated that for every adverse drug event that occurs in a hospital, adds over 8,000 to the hospital stay (Institute of Medicine, 2006). One of the essential components in reducing medication error is a collaborative partnership with the patient and healthcare providers to facilitate communication. Patient education regarding risks, side effects, drug interactions and contraindications must be thoroughly reviewed with the patient (Institute of Medicine, 2006). The use of technology for prescribing, dispensing and to obtain detailed information regarding

Our solution to medication errors is here, it is just a matter of implementing it into our

Medication use is potentially dangerous. Polypharmacy is increasing, and makes it harder to keep track of side effects and interactions and of potentially inappropriate drug combinations. “The risk of serious consequences, hospitalization, and death due to medication errors increases with patients’ age and number of medications (Scand J Prim Health Care, 2012)”. For example, the GP is supposed to monitor the patient's regular medication, but does not always do so. Lack of monitoring and keeping track of patients’ medication use is a main cause when a patient is given inappropriate drugs.

Six months after the introduction of medication aides, error rates were as follows: RN (2.75%), LPN (7.25%) and medication aides (6.06%) with a mean error rate of 6.6%” Randolph & Scott-Calwiezell (2010) as cited in Budden (2011). While errors remain, the objective of reducing inaccuracies among primary nursing staff was achieved by

Accountability for delivery of patient safety improvement targets with relation to medication errors. Janine was an enthusiastic and engaging speaker, and her passion for reducing medication error and the involvement of her junior doctors was evident. She spoke about the Juniors’ Educational Drug Initiative (JEDI) and discussed the ‘carrot and stick’ as a simple model to describe motivation.

After surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and a marrow transplant, an improperly mixed intravenous solution apparently stopped Brianna Cohen's heart. Hence, this case shows that there is an unintended act either of commission or omission, does not achieve its intended outcome, failure of a planned action to be completed for instance an error of education which was the mixed solution, potassium, which caused the heart rhythm to regulate. Furthermore, there was a wrong plan to achieve an error like an error of planning and deviation from the process of care. Therefore, receiving the incorrect medication, or missing a diagnosis that is evident on a lab test or imaging study is a medical