Safe medication administration is a big aspect of nursing care, because if medications aren’t given safely, then it can lead to some serious adverse effects to the patients. There are many things that can go wrong, and that’s why nurses have to be very careful when handling and giving medications. Nurses can make mistakes, and give the wrong med, give it to the wrong person, or even give too much or too little of the drug. Careful medication administration can lead to not making big mistakes that can lead to hurting others. “Medication Administration is a complex multistep process that encompasses prescribing, transcribing, dispensing, and administering drugs and monitoring patient response.” (Anderson, 2010). Patients name, and date of birth are two factors that can be used to tell if a person is really who they say they are. This is a safe way to tell if the patient is really who they are, and should be asked before given their medications to prevent any med errors. Barcode scans on the patients bracelets are used to help decrease the risk of giving the wrong patient a medication (Anderson, 2010). A nurse should know about the medications that they are giving to the patients and why they are giving them. Communication can be a big factor in medication errors. Miscommunication by the members of the healthcare team can lead to deadly consequences, so orders should be repeated back and verified (Anderson, 2010.) Sometimes …show more content…
Medications that are given wrong can lead to serious side effects for the patient, and maybe even death. The nurse should be very careful to read everything before giving the medication to the patient, and should be very thorough when administering it to them. Nurses can make big mistakes by giving the wrong medication to the wrong patient, and this should be avoided at all costs. Careful medication administration should be implemented, so that patients have the best care
Principles for safe medication administration: • All medications must be administered according to a physician’s orders. • The medication orders must be clear, legible and not open. • The same person should select, prepare, administer and record the administration. • Doses must be prepared for only one patient at a time, immediately before the intended use • Medications should be prepared for immediate administration to a single patient and not retained for later use due to the risks of contamination, potential instability, potential mix-up with other medications and to maintain security of the medication • All medications must be stored in patient care areas in the same container as received from pharmacy. • All RNs and ENs without notation must successfully complete the Medication Assessment Paper prior to administering medications.
To properly read the medication order the nurse must know all of the components and appropriately question anything that is unclear to them (Kee, 2012). To avoid drug error the drug order should be read three times. The fist check is when you review the MD order. The second check is to review the MD order with the eMar or Mar and the last check is to review the eMar or Mar with the medication. Another way the nurse can avoid medication error is to wear a safety vest that alters others they are not to be disturbed when administering
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
Effective communication is crucial in ensuring that patient care is coordinated and safe. This semester, I witnessed an incident where a patient's medication was missed because the communication between the physician and the nurse was unclear. The nurse assumed that the physician had ordered the medication, but the physician thought the nurse had already given it. This resulted in the patient not receiving the medication on time, which could have led to complications. This experience reinforced the importance of clear and effective communication among healthcare
The nursing staff needs to make sure they have more indicators towards practice nurse safety. Focusing on working patient safety down to zero with grade c medication ( Cockerham ,J.,Figueroa-Altmann,A., Foxen,C., Paffett,C., Sullivan,A.,&Wellner,J.,2014). The nurses making sure patient safety is first when administrating medication .The hospital would like to limit risk and increase reliability when taking care of patients. The purposed of this peer review article is to have the quality nursing and ample amount of nursing staff.
Barriers to the reporting of medication administration errors and near misses: an interview
Communication is an important factor in determining patient outcomes, patient experiences, and healthcare costs, both positively and negatively. In fact, communication breakdown accounts for two thirds of sentinel events, the most serious of errors reported to the Joint Commission, making it the leading cause of medical errors (Starmer et al., 2014). The Institute of Medicine (1999) conservatively estimates that between 44,000 and 98,000 patients die each year from medical errors. More recent estimates predicted this number to be upwards of 400,000 deaths annually, making medical errors the third leading cause of death in the United States (Makary & Daniel, 2016). Miscommunication and handoff errors are the primary point these errors occur.
Technology is a massive part of our society today and it is continuously changing. It can help solve issues and increase sufficiency. One safety issue that technology can help improve is medication administration errors that occur in hospitals and other health care settings. A medication administration error is defined as any preventable event that could possibly result in unsuitable medication use or harm to the patient while the health care professional is in control of the medication. The most common type of medical error is medication errors.
Fisher Week Three Response to McConnelly Yvonne, your post was extremely intriguing to me as a community health department is not an environment I have had the privilege of experiencing. Interestingly, the utilization of computerized order entry does not prevent the prescriber from ordering an incorrect medication dose or the wrong drug (Lapane, Waring, Dube’, & Schneider, 2011). Do the facility employ process to assure nurses are checking the medication in order to avoid the administration of an incorrect drug or dosage? Distractions have been linked to medication errors, consequently, and the ability to care for a solitary patient at one time clearly minimizes the distractions and interruptions that a nurse may experience during medication
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.
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 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.
Error-free medication process may be a challenge; but not impossible; medication incidents decrease from 31.2% to 14.3% during the five years in 2009-2013(al-Faouri, Hayajneh, Habboush, 2014). Keer et al. ,2015, describe medication error in mental health as a prescribing errors (20.8%) related to decision or writing process, including prescribing a drug without appropriate monitoring service (e.g. Clozapine) and prescribing drug treatment without authorization from a Mental Health Act or clerical errors (71.9%), and errors involving inadequate communication of medicines ( 68.8 %) stopped during admission. Additionally; Ayani et al., found 29 % of medication errors were classified as serious or
Ask queries Find the facts Evaluate your decisions Read the label and follow directions Speak Up The additional data your health care team is aware of regarding you, the higher the team will arrange the care that is right for you. The members of your team ought to