Medication Administration Errors

256 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Impact of medication error

Keers (2013), conducted a systematic review which included 54 studies of English language publications and found evidence relating to the causes of medication administration errors within hospitals. Prescribing and administering drugs appeared to have the largest association with the greatest number of medication errors. Harm does not specifically have to be caused for medication errors to result. The most common type of unsafe medication error was found to be slips and lapses. Slips and lapses include misidentification of patient/medication, misreading labels, mental state, or forgetting to sign a medication order. The following were all other causes of medication administration errors found to complicate patient safety: knowledge and rule-based

Show More
Related

  • Analytic Cover Essay On Vulnerable Populations

    1111 Words  | 3 Pages

    For my research paper, I will be discussing the impact of medication errors on vulnerable populations, specifically the elderly. Technology offers ways to reduce medication errors using electronic bar-coding medication administration (BCMA) systems. However, skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) are not using these systems. Medication is still administered with a paper or electronic medication administration record (eMAR), without barcode scanning. In contrast, every hospital I have been in: as a patient, nursing student, and nurse uses BCMA systems. The healthcare system is neglecting the elderly. Nursing homes should use BCMAs to reduce the incidents of medication errors.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Electronic Prescriptions

    2265 Words  | 5 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • Nurses Are Causing Multiple Medication Errors in a Clinical and Practice Setting

    1018 Words  | 3 Pages

    Most undergraduate nursing students are not being properly educated on proper medication administration. Clinical instructors and registered nurses need to be updated on medication administration reporting, so students do not develop bad habits when they become registered nurses. Registered nurses must also continue their education on med error prevention to prevent future errors. Another significant problem with registered nurses was that they did not have positive attitudes when reporting an error. Once these negative attitudes were changed, more errors were reported (Harding & Petrick, 2008). The three main problems that cause medication errors...

    Read More

  • Medication Errors Research Paper

    1145 Words  | 3 Pages

    Some method such as audits, chart reviews, computer monitoring, incident report, bar codes and direct patient observation can improve and decrease medication errors. Regular audits can help patient’s care and reeducate nurses in the work field to new practices. Also reporting of medication errors can help with data comparison and is a learning experience for everyone. Other avenues that has been implemented are computerized physician order entry systems or electronic prescribing (a process of electronic entry of a doctor’s instructions for the treatment of patients under his/her care which communicates these orders over a computer network to other staff or departments) responsible for fulfilling the order, and ward pharmacists can be more diligence on the prescription stage of the medication pathway. A random survey was done in hospital pharmacies on medication error documentation and actions taken against pharmacists involved. A total of 500 hospital were selected in the United States. Data collected on the number of medication error reported, what types of errors were documented and the hospital demographics. The response rate was a total of 28%. Practically, all of the hospitals had policies and procedures in place for reporting medication errors.

    Read More

  • Nursing Errors and The Stakes

    1123 Words  | 3 Pages

    Agyemang, REO, and A While. "Medication errors: types, causes and impact on nursing practice." British Journal of Nursing (BJN) 19.6 (2010): 380-385. CINAHL Plus with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 7 Mar. 2011.

    Read More

  • Medication Errors In Pediatric Essay

    734 Words  | 2 Pages

    The purpose of this paper is to show most of medication errors occur on the night shifts and the weekend shifts in pediatric care, Bar Code Medication Administration System’s success on extremely low medication errors in pediatric care, and tenfold medication errors in pediatric care.

    Read More

  • Chemotherapy Medication Error

    551 Words  | 2 Pages

    The topic of this article is medication error related to chemotherapy drugs. Forty percent of medication errors have been related to chemotherapy drugs. It is imperative that the nurses are properly trained on these medications and fully understand what is being administered before giving it to the patient as well as know what the proper dose is before administering anything to the patient. More importantly the nurse must pay close attention to their patient’s response to the chemotherapy given to the patient or it could lead to a serious injury or death.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Medication Errors

    1590 Words  | 4 Pages

    A newly employed critical care nurse was just about to finish a 12-hour night shift when she realized she had one more patient to administer medication to. It was the busiest Friday night shift she has ever worked due to a poor nurse-patient ratio, and the workload felt impossible. She gave her last patient the properly prescribed medication, but failed to notice that the physician hastily wrote an updated dosage for a high risk medication, Digoxin. The patient’s heart rate began to slow down and life-saving procedures had to be performed. Medication errors are “any preventable event that may cause, or lead, to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care professional, patient, or consumer (About Medication Errors, 2015)”.

    Read More

  • National Patient Safety Goals

    1810 Words  | 4 Pages

    Tzeng, H., Yin, C., & Schneider, T. E. (2013). Medication Error-Related Issues In Nursing Practice. MEDSURG Nursing, 22(1), 13-50.

    Read More

  • Medication Errors

    533 Words  | 2 Pages

    Medication errors made by medical staff bring about consequences of epidemic proportions. Medical staff includes everyone from providers (medical doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants) to pharmacists to nurses (registered and practical). Medication errors account for almost 98,000 deaths in the United States yearly (Tzeng, Yin, & Schneider, 2013). This number only reflects the United States, a small percentage in actuality when looking at the whole world. Medical personnel must take responsibility for their actions and with this responsibility comes accountability in their duties of medication administration. Nurses play a major role in medication error prevention and education and this role distinguishes them as reporters of errors.

    Read More

  • Drug Administration to Patients

    1004 Words  | 3 Pages

    O’Shea, E (1999) Factors contributing to medication errors: a literature review. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 8, 5,496-503.

    Read More

  • Nurses-to-Patient Ratios Affect the Care that Patients Receives

    1756 Words  | 4 Pages

    The most common kind of medication error is administering the wrong medication or giving wrong doses. A medication error is any error that happens to patients whether they suffer any harmful results or not. Inappropriate nurses-to-patients ratio should be taken into consideration because it can cause medication errors. A new study shows that every year about 210,000-400,000 people who were admitted to the hospital die due to medication error; it also shows that is is “the third leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer”(MacDonald). For instance, an interview was done with Nurse Carol, a retired nurse; she said that she made a medication error while administering medication to one of her patients. She said that she was rushing and accidentally gave Cozaar to one of her patients instead of Colace. Cozaar is often used for high blood pressure and Colace is for constipation. She said her patient’s pressure dropped very low after taking the medication; she realized then that she gave the patient the wrong medication. Nurse Carol also said that if she did no...

    Read More

  • Medication Errors In Nursing Practice

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    For many patients the scariest part of being in the hospital is having to rely on other people to control their life changing decisions. There are multiple causes of patient harm, one of the major contributors are medication errors made by health care professional. Medication errors are inappropriate dispensing and administration of drugs which cause harmful effects such liver damage and excessive bleeding. Most cases of medication errors in hospitals occur as a result of wrong diagnosis by the doctors leading administration of inappropriate drug, poor communication between doctors and nurses and between patients and nurses who issue the drugs. However in an article by the International Journal of Nursing practice, in Australia many occurrences

    Read More

  • How Technology Can Aid Patient Safety During The Medication Administration Process

    960 Words  | 2 Pages

    Administration of medication is a vital part of the clinical nursing practice however in turn has great potential in producing medication errors (Athanasakis 2012). It has been reported that over 7,000 deaths have occur per year related to medications errors within the US (Flynn, Liang, Dickson, Xie, & Suh, 2012). A patient in the hospital may be exposed to at least one error a day that could have been prevented (Flynn, Liang, Dickson, Xie, & Suh, 2012). Working in a professional nursing practice setting, the primary goal is the nurse and staff places the patient first and provides the upmost quality care with significance on safety. There are several different types of technology that can be used to improve the medication process and will aid staff in reaching a higher level of care involving patient safety. One tool that can and should be utilized in preventing medication errors is barcode technology. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how implementing technology can aid patient safety during the medication administration process.

    Read More

  • Medication Administration Essay

    826 Words  | 2 Pages

    Medication administration is a critical component of nursing management skills. Best practices of MA require critical thinking ability to ensure patient safety, quality care, and prevention of medication administration errors. “A medication error is any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care professional or consumer” (National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention, 2006). The authors of this article are Carolyn Hayes, RN, Deborah Jackson, Ph.D., RN, Patricia M Davidson, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, and Tamara Power, Ph.D., RN. This article is to explore the current curriculum of medication administration, and identify

    Read More

More about Medication Administration Errors

Open Document