They can result from the various processes involved in treatment: prescribing, dispensing, administering the medication and monitory of treatment. In addition, there are several factors contributing to medication errors in hospitals. They include individual staff errors and system errors. There are many dangers resulting from medication error on the patient. They include deterioration of health status of the individual, increased financial expenses (as there is possibility of longer stay in the hospital) and development of medical complications.
This would seem to indicate that any nurse is potentially at risk for making a medication error (Mayo et al. 2004). Prevention of medication errors is linked to accurate reporting of medication errors. Reporting medication errors is dependent on individual nurse’s decision making. Medication errors are typically reported through institutional reporting systems such as incident reports (Wakefield et al.1996).
Medication error is not something new in healthcare service. Researchers had identified medication error is the high numbers of incidents involving nursing practice. Thus, a proper and well designed organizational system should be in place for the process of administration of medication to minimize and prevent errors. Medication happens when there is a failure in the system. To my surprise when I did the write up for this paper I had came across many clinical practice guidelines on medication safety.
(Claffey, 2018) The best way to reduce the risk of medication errors is to enquire about which orders wouldn't be appropriate to give to the patient based on their condition. (Claffey, 2018) In addition to successfully completing a physical assessment on the patient, the practitioner must also view the patient holistically, and always report near-miss medication errors. (Claffey, 2018) Given that nurses are the ones administering the medication, they should be able to justify as to why the patient is receiving the drug and if it is safe for the patient to be given that specific dosage. (Claffey, 2018) As technology evolves, having an electronic entry for medication may perhaps help reduce the risk of many errors in a busy environment. (Claffey,
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.
Teens and adults have managed to get their hands on these prescriptions. People abuse prescription drugs because they think they will have a better time
Abstract This reflective paper imposes that nurses, including me, need to be able to make drug calculations and correct medication administration. A medication error serves as leading medical cause of patient’s safety or even its life. As a result, correct medication administration should be a focus of nursing education. Nursing students including myself have difficulty learning math calculation skills which relate to medication. Evidence-based resources/books are available to prevent medication error, strategies to be used to ensure correct medication administration and high alert medication require extra caution when administering can improve the student nurse’s ability to think analytically and solve medication administration problems.
Medication administration is one of the highest risks in health care. The problem with medication administration is that is is very easy to have medication errors occur. It is the role of the nurse to promote health, prevent illness, and achieve optimal recovery by administering medications; and it is this process that can also cause injuries and death to these patients from errors that could have been prevented. Medication errors occur at points of transition in care: admission to the hospital, transfer from department to another, and at discharge home or to another facility (Taylor, Lillis, & LeMone, 2015). While it may be difficult to completely eliminate medication errors, we can examine what causes these errors to occur and find solutions
REVIEW OF LITERATURE Benjamin DM: according to him reducing medication errors and improving patient safety have become common topics of discussion in United States. Federal and state legislators, the insurance industry, pharmaceutical companies, health care professionals, and patients are worried about the error scenario in the country. According to him improving the judicious use of medications and minimizing adverse drug reactions have always been key areas of research and study for people working in clinical pharmacology, added to the older terms of adverse drug reactions and rational therapeutics, the now politically correct expression of medication error has emerged. The word error has drawn attention to another term "prevention" and all
Medication management is a theme in every patient lifestyle that demand will, order and consistency to effectively sustain to effective treatment. Depending upon the demographic range of patients it can be difficult to keep track of the exact time of the day and the number of times a medication should be taken. Many patients take several medication prescriptions during the day, this can create confusion which might lead to irregular medication intake, which can seriously jeopardize the health of the person.This confusion can be made by various factors known as medication packaging.Some medications are look-alike in primary packaging while others are look-alike in secondary packaging. Many lessons have been learnt from past historical records