Essay On Medication Error

Ethical Dilemma – Medication Error Nursing practice is a discipline that is prone to several ethical dilemmas and issues on a daily basis. One key ethical dilemma associated with nursing practice is medication error. An error, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary (2016), is doing something wrong as a result of inadvertence or ignorance. In other words, an error can be defined as the failure to complete an intended action accurately / correctly. There also are several other definitions of the term (Yu & Dooley, 2005). From this perspective, medication error can be defined as the failure of a nurse to administer medication as per the planned or intended method. Or in other words, a medication error may also be defined as an incorrect administration of medication as a result of ignorance or inadvertence. In a broader sense, a medication error is a failure to administer accurate treatment, which eventually leads to harm the patient (Ferner & Aronson, 2006). In these definitions, the use of the word ‘failure’ is obvious, which implies that the administration of medication was somehow below the

This is an important bioethical principle that encompasses several values including but not limited to loyalty, dedication, advocacy, truthfulness and fairness to patients (Wilkes University, 2016). This is the only reason why I consider this bioethical principle to be associated with medication error; inclusion of several values. Unless a nurse ensures adherence and commitment to fidelity, he/she is highly likely to encounter medication error. This requires that nurses stick to their virtue of caring and uphold fidelity so as to ensure no medication errors occur either because of ignorance or inadvertence. A point to be noted here is that even if the error is inadvertent, its outcomes and consequences can turn out to be