Medication Error

Further research led to healthcare providers initiating distraction free areas within each department in order to allow nurses to practice safe medication administration. Nurses are highly recommend to use these sections within the hospital as safety zones to avoid drug errors. Within this safety zone there are elements designed to elevate correct drug administration. Such things like, adequate lighting, access to patients profiles, and a quite area to for nurses to dispense medications using the Pyxis

The “No Pass Zone” means that if a nurse, nurse assistant, or health care staff see a call light going off they cannot ignore it and must see what the patient needs. However, if the care staff is unable to fulfill this request on their own they must alert the appropriate staff. The impact this goal had on patient outcomes was that it improved patient satisfaction and was even showing a reduction in patient falls. Often, most patients calls are for beeping IV pumps or needing to use the restroom.

About 1,5 million Americans are injured by this issue (Anderson, 2010) and it costs $3,5 billion

With regard to this case study, I felt that all the above points should be addressed in Suzan’s clinical management. Reflective practice is undoubtedly an important concept in nursing to think about to reduce the possibility of errors in the future practice. The day that Ms. Suzan received the double dose of Omniplaque drink, I went back through the chart and realized that this medication could make more harm to her kidney as well as liver. So I contacted the doctor immediately to do the needful at the earliest for Ms. Suzan to avoid further damage. Medical errors are not typically caused by a negligent or incompetent healthcare professional; instead, they are often the result of a breakdown in processes that guide the delivery of patient care (Bonney, 2014).

By being a provider and educator, the organization has created a reputation as a safe, reliable source that many individuals can depend on for their health. Nearly 4 of 10 Americans are reliant on such programs and up to 25% of Planned Parenthood patients would be completely without medical insurance if the organization was defunded. Defunding Planned Parenthood was an effort put into effect in Texas of 2011 where it proved to be disastrous for both healthcare providers and their patients. The two-year budget for Planned Parenthood was cut from $111 million to $38 million, which resulted in 82 clinics closing, reduced services and supplies, and ultimately an upcharge for what was available. This resulted in a 36% decrease in IUDs and other implants and a 31% decrease in injectable contraceptives, all because it was limited, too expensive, or too difficult to receive (Willingham).

Unfortunately, there are many ways a patient can be injured or harmed while staying at a hospital. Even though there have been several attempts to make a hospital visit one hundred percent injury preventable, accidents and mistakes still happen. The three leading types of patient injuries are medication errors, patient falls, and pressure ulcers. However, if the entire health care team, such as: health care providers, pharmacists, nurses, etc, work together then hopefully the percentage of patient injury will decrease each year. (Berman, A. 2011)

If the person who is anonymously tested monthly fails his/her drug or alcohol test, then he/she should immediately be cut from their benefits and should be charged with governmental fraud and with illegal drug charges as well. By doing this, the people wouldn’t have to pay as much money to the government, there would be less drug abuse in the system, and there would also be a very large drop in the amount of welfare abuse in the

When I think about where I stand with the ethical issues that are brought up throughout the book I think back to why I wanted to be a nurse. Seeing the joy and happiness of people when you can do something to improve their pain or their horrible situation makes me feel like I’m important and I can make a difference. I just want to help people. If I can do anything no matter how big or small and they get something out of it, then I did my job. I understand why Olga may have suspected that the nurses did give more morphine than ordered.

Short staffing decreases the quality of care provided to each patient, as nurses develop burnout with increase workload. Implementing helpful measures can decrease nurse burnout and the affect it has on patient outcomes. For example, PCSN (patient care support nurses) are a useful resource to provide when nursing staff is low. Nurses can also benefit from applying time management measures during their shifts, such as prioritizing and delegating. The impacts of short staffing may be minimal on patient care if these the proper measures are implemented.

Current Issues and Trends One of the major issues that is currently impacting nursing leaders and managers is the ongoing problem with medication administration errors. It is a nurse’s job to verify that the correct dose, route, frequency, and duration of the drug is administered and monitored appropriately. Unfortunately, numerous studies show the significance of this problem amongst nurses. For example, within a certain study performed involving 237 nurses, 64.55% of them had made medication administration errors, while 31.37% of them were on the verge of making a mistake (Cheragi, Manoocheri, Mohammadnejad, & Ehsani, 2013).

Medication administration errors occurs 34 percent more often than any other preventable error. These errors directly impact patient safety. According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), there are approximately one million patients harmed in hospitals across the United States. Studies support barcode scanning medication during medication administration can prevent this type of medication error (Marx, K., Stoudenmire, L.L., & Manasco, K.B., 2013).

According to statisticsbrain.com, their are 110,489,000 Americans who are on welfare and more and more Americans are applying for welfare each year. Many Americans rely on welfare for their families and for individual needs. Welfare recipients should not be permitted to take a drug test because drug testing is expensive for states and the country, drug testing is unconstitutional and welfare recipients do not do drugs any more than people who do not receive welfare. Drug testing is expensive and cost states a lot of money one drug test cost averages to about 42 dollars, not including the cost for equipment and hiring people to conduct the test. States start programs that require welfare recipients to take a drug test and the programs end up costing them up to 1 million or, even more, depending on the number of welfare recipients that reside in that state.

One study by Arnold et al. (2010) directly compared the two drugs in question for this project and provided credible information to the development of an evidenced-based answer to the problem (Arnold et al., 2010). A second systematic review by Akl et al. (2014) researched the effects of the two drugs in question in the thromboprophylaxis treatment of patients (Akl et al.,

Preventable medical mistakes cause approximately 200,000 deaths around the United States each year. (1) More than 1,000,000 Americans are negatively impacted by medication errors each year caused by inadvertent mistakes in the prescription filling process. With 4 out of 5 adults taking at least 1 medication daily and 1 out of 4 adults taking 5 or more medications daily nationwide, errors like these cost healthcare industry billions of dollars per year. Health information technology were developed to transform healthcare services, the way they are provided and compensated. Electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) becomes an internal part of that transformation process, which can be confirmed from annual Surescripts’ National Progress Report.

Recognizing, acknowledging, and understanding medication safety is important when administering medications. Understanding which medications are high-risk ones, being familiar with the medications being given, remembering the five most important rights when administering medications, communicating clearly, developing checking habits, and reporting the medication errors will lead to safe outcomes for the residents. However, errors do occur from a lack of experience, rushing, distractions, fatigue, doing too many things at once, not double checking, poor communication, and lack of team work. It is not only the staff that commit errors, but also the work environment that contributes to the medication error. Two examples are poor reporting systems