• How can eliminating abbreviations reduce errors?
The use of abbreviations shortens length of many words thus really help healthcare professionals in saving time spent in writing notes. Abbreviations however do not always provide positive contributions due to misconceptions, misunderstandings, and misinterpretations leading to commitment of errors in the practice. Similarities in abbreviations for instance could root to a grave mistake. For instance the q.d. which an inscriber would like to indicate as every day could be erroneously interpreted as q.i.d. which means four times a day. Such error could result to over dosage when a certain medication is taken four times in a day instead of just once. Though some abbreviations can be easily understood clearly and exactly as to what meaning they communicate, the use of abbreviations generally invite error potentials particularly the error-prone abbreviations (ISMP, 2007) which can be best avoided by eliminating abbreviations.
•Should written policies be developed for abbreviation usage? If yes, what should the policies contain?
Despite of errors that can be potentially generated by using abbreviations , the use of such shortened form of inscribing some words and medical orders has been a part of the practice and has not been eradicated. It would be therefore for the best and benefit of everyone to be well guided by written policies on usage of abbreviations. Standard policies on abbreviation usage have been developed by organizations such as The Joint Commission (ISMP, 2007). The JCAHO has been also striving to reach out to the healthcare professionals and organizations to help in elimination of errors rooting from the use of abbreviations (AARC, 2005). Org...
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...owledge on abbreviations not only by medical professionals but also those who are keenly interested in learning some forms of the written language used in the medical field.
References
AARC. (2005). JCAHO seeks your input in medical abbreviations. Retrieved January
4, 2009, from http://www.aarc.org/headlines/medical_abbreviations.asp
ISMP. (2001). In the long run, penmanship classes for doctors won't do much for
patient's safety. Retrieved January 04, 2009, from
http://www.ismp.org/Newsletters/acutecare/articles/20010110.asp?ptr=y
ISMP. (2007). ISMP's list of error-prone abbreviations, symbols, and dose
designations. Retrieved January 04, 2009, from
http://www.ismp.org/tools/errorproneabbreviations.pdf
The Joint Commission. (2009). "Do Not Use" list. Retrieved January 04, 2009, from
http://www.jointcommission.org/PatientSafety/DoNotUseList/
During the 1980’s and 90’s there were many studies done that showed that medical errors were occurring in inpatient and outpatient settings at a very high rate. Computer Provider Order Entry (CPOE) systems were designed to reduce or eliminate mistakes made by using hand written orders. The CPOE system allows users to directly enter their orders into the system on computers which are then sent directly to the healthcare providers that will be implementing the orders. Previously orders were placed by writing on order sheets on patient charts. This was sometimes done by the doctor or by a nurse acting on behalf of the doctor. Order sheets were then signed by the doctor and then the information was input into the patient’s record. This left room for error due to misreading bad handwriting, confusing medications with similar names, etc.
Using text abbreviations to text a boss or reply for a job interview would leave a bad impression. Not only it is unprofessional, but it also makes you look dumb. According to a study by Achieve, it has shown that 34% of employers "were dissatisfied with the oral communication skills of high school graduates." (lovetoknowit.com)
This is a critical review of the article entitled “Selecting a Standardized Terminology for the Electronic Health Record that Reveals the Impact of Nursing on Patient Care”. In this article, Lundberg, C.B. et al. review the different standardized terminology in electronic health records (EHR) used by nurses to share medical information to the rest of the care team. It aims at showing that due to the importance of nursing in patient care, there is a great need for a means to represent information in a way that all the members of the multidisciplinary medical team can accurately understand. This standardization varies from organization to organization as the terminologies change with respect to their specialized needs.
How would you define standardized terminologies and why are they important? Provide an example in your answer.
Nurses were the professional group who most often reported medication errors and older patients were those most often affected in the medication errors reports analyzed for this study (Friend, 2011). Medication error type’s revealed omitted medicine or dose, wrong dose, strength or frequency and wrong documentation were the most common problems at Site A where the traditional pen and paper methods of prescription were used; and wrong documentation and omission were the most common problems associated with medication errors at Site B where the electronic MMS was introduced (Friend, 2011). Reports of problems such as wrong drug, wrong dose, strength or frequency, quantity, wrong route, wrong drug and omitted dose were less frequent at Site B (Friend, 2011). The reduced incidence of omission errors at Site B supports suggestions that an advantage of the MMS is easy identification of patient requirements at each drug round time slot. Despite the finding of less omission errors at site B where the MMS had been introduced, there was a relatively high frequency in the incident reports of medication errors related to both omission and wrong dose, strength and frequency at both sites (Friend, 2011).
Pharmacy technicians are truly a specialized discourse community and they satisfy all aspects of Swales’s criteria. Most notably, they share common public goals, have participants who possess a general level of expertise, and who use a highly specialized lexis. The structure and purpose of this group allows one discourse community, pharmacy technicians, to help care for another. Their unique language heavily emphasizes medical acronyms and allows for effective completion of common purpose, intercommunication, feedback, and the successful transferring of vital information.
Written policies should be developed in the healthcare field when dealing with abbreviations. These policies should include information on how to correctly write out the abbreviation and also show how important spelling is when writing out the words. It should also include which abbreviations are okay to use and which ones should be avoided. If the problem still continues with abbreviation errors, maybe a class needs to be taken so workers get the basics on why abbreviations do cause errors and how we as workers can avoid these errors. When it comes to using abbreviations they should be used with care and understanding.
As a new user of reddit, one will notice there are many abbreviations and acronyms that a new user may not be aware of prior to visiting the site. Sub-reddit’s such as IAMA stand for “I am a” and feature popular users and celebrities such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Gates, and Barack Obama. There is a common form of communic...
Medication Errors one of the biggest issues happening in an acute care setting today . Although, Medications are given based on the five rights principles: the right patient, right medication, right route, right dose, and right time. Even with the five rights principles medication errors are still happening. However, some of the errors that are occurring are due to poor order transcriptions and documentation, drug interactions, proper drug name and not paying enough attention and environment factors.
Hospital medical errors can involve medicines (e.g., wrong drug, wrong dose, bad combination), an inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis, equipment malfunction, surgical mistakes, or laboratory errors. High medical error rates with serious consequences occurs in intensive care units, operating rooms, and emergency departments; but, serious errors that harmed patients may have prevented or minimized. Understand the nature of the error
this will cause healthcare providers with the training and education needed for clinical documentation improvements to be installed effectively. It is important that having a specialized team who can create solutions towards Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI) in order to minimize the failures that may occur. In this case, investing in training for the materials/tools necessary for healthcare providers to excel in their work with CDI. Essentially, Clinical Documentation is used throughout the healthcare system for the analysis of care, communication, and medical records. This is important because the information of medical records that healthcare providers are able to access, will help patients track their health conditions. Thus, clinical documentation improvement has a direct impact on patients by providing quality information. On the other hand, the new technological advancements will also be able to address the efficiencies in health care system that differ from paper-based charting. Improving on the quality of information will also have the effect upon the ethical and effectiveness of care that is being provided. This has a significant impact in order to maintain patient care that ensures the documentation is accurate, timely, and reflect within the services provided. Documentation assessments can be utilized so there can be improvements on the education for healthcare providers as they intend implementation standards take effect immediately. In this case, failures must be analyzed so that they will have the ability to comprehend and determine an organization’s strengths and weaknesses
Communication is cited as a contributing factor in 70% of healthcare mistakes, leading to many initiatives across the healthcare settings to improve the way healthcare professionals communicate. (Kohn, 2000.)
Wieman TJ and Wieman EA (2004) demonstrates communication factors that result in MAE. They say that nurses’ failure to question unclear orders or pursue concerns because of intimidation by prescriber (physician or pharmacist) contributes to these errors. Illegible handwritten orders and ambiguous orders written in MARs or patient profiles further contribute to these medical errors. Moreover, other factors that also contribute are an incomplete medication orders such as missing dose or route, abbreviations misunderstood (Appendix B) (Davis N.M., 2005), and spoken orders misheard. According to Cohen M.R. (2007), nurses’ who contributes to MAE fail to identify the patient (checked ID band, allergy band, MAR sheet), unable to share correct information during the shift report and ineffective communication.
Dougherty, L. & Lister, s. (2006) ‘The Royal Marsden Hospital manual of Clinical Nursing Procedures: Communication 6th Edition Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Medical errors can happen in the healthcare system such as hospitals, outpatient clinics, operating rooms, doctor’s offices, pharmacies, patients’ homes and anywhere in the healthcare system where patients are being treated. These errors consist of diagnostic, treatment, medicine, surgical, equipment calibration, and lab report error. Furthermore, communication problems between doctors and patients, miscommunication among healthcare staff and complex health care systems are playing important role in medical errors. We need to look for a solution which starts changes from physicians, nurses, pharmacists, patients, hospitals, and government agencies. In this paper I will discuss how does the problem of medical errors affect our healthcare delivery system? Also how can these medical errors be prevented and reduced?