Medication Errors In Nursing

“Medication errors were once the eighth leading cause of death in the United States” (Keane, 2014). With 44,000 to 98,000 annual deaths it is apparent that medication errors are still prevalent in healthcare settings. In a review done by Agyemang and While, a medication error is defined as a “failure to the drug treatment process that leads to or has the potential to lead to harm to the patient” (Agyemang & While, 2010). Medication errors are common, however, with proper education and training they can be prevented. A variety of factors can lead to medication errors including: interruptions while administering medications, misidentification of resident, poor communication between medical professionals, and general hospital chaos (Nazarko,

If medical professionals do not know what mistakes they are making, or how to fix them, the mistakes will continue. Nurses need to be aware of harmful medications and adverse effects that some medications have so that patients do not suffer from easily preventable side effects. There are many medications that look alike and sound alike so being conscious and knowing which medications cause confusion can reduce the chances of giving a patient the wrong medication. It is important to make sure the right patient is getting the right dose of the right medication, through the right route at the right time. If the above precautions are not followed precisely the patient could suffer from adverse effects and possible death. Not only is it important for healthcare providers to be educated on the safety of administering medications; patients too need to know the proper ways to administer medications once they are discharged from the hospital. It is important to note that education extends far beyond the classroom. Education can be as simple as informing another nurse of a common mistake they are unknowingly

The articles all went in depth about ensuring that nurses are following the five rights: right patient, right medication, right time, right dose, and right route. If the nurse is aware of the five rights many errors with the distribution of medications can be prevented. Nazarko (2015) suggests that having a picture of the resident in their eMAR will decrease the instances of the wrong patient getting the wrong medication. She also discusses the importance of knowing if patients have any swallowing problems that would interfere with the patient getting the correct dose of a medication. Agyemang and While (2010) focus mainly on the causes of medication errors, emphasizing on personal factors and organizational factors. They discuss that errors do not depend solely on the nurse but instead majority of medication errors are a result of an illegible prescription. Wright (2014) spends most of her article discussing how staff is not following proper policies and procedures leading to errors in administration of medications. She also goes in depth about checking a patient’s medication list every few years to ensure that they still require the