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Essay on medication safety
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illiam McCulley, Medication Safety:
If prescribed and used properly, medication safety should be guaranteed. Unfortunately, the reality is that medication errors are made at the pharmacy level that can endanger patient safety. Adverse drug reactions or overdosing are the most important consequences of failing to complete the medication use process as intended¬¬¬1. Errors can occur at any point within the medication process, but the areas that concern us most as pharmacist is in the prescribing, labeling, and dispensing. We also focus on ensuring the patient is well informed on how to use their medication before dispensing. Most, if not all, errors are preventable, and we can create strategies and systems to eliminate as much error as possible.
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Surely not from lack of caring, so I believe it just comes from some sort of complacency. Many may feel that we do enough already to prevent error and may see any new strategies as wastes of time. There have been a lot of good changes in recent years due to changes in technology and I think that may have created this kind of attitude that we don’t need to improve safety anymore. However, I think it’s imperative that we convince everyone to put safety first because if we aren’t putting the patient first we shouldn’t be in health care at …show more content…
I’ve read specifically about creating a “safety culture” in professional organizations and I think that’s a great way to look at it1. Every step of the process should have checks to eliminate as much error as possible, possibly even two checks if there is a big enough work force to accomplish that. Keeping up to date with all new drug information will be something I strive for. I want safety to always be my number one priority and I want to instill that attitude in those I work with. Safety is definitely a group effort, if any one link is weak it could cause a chain reaction leading to more errors. It is the expectation of the patient that when they go to the pharmacy that what they are given is one hundred percent correct and safe for them to take and they are right to think so. I plan on striving to ensure their trust in us is never
They must be able to appreciate the value of standardization in nursing practice as well as the limitations of the human mind in memorizing and coming up with effective solutions all the time. The practitioner must also play their role in the prevention of errors within the facility while valuing the role of the patient, families and colleagues in as far as monitoring and cross checking is concerned. In addition, they must be able to appreciate the significance of the national safety campaigns and their positive impacts upon implementation in practice.
...estions if not 100% sure of something or use a double checking system. When a nurse is administrating medication, they should use the ten rights of medication administration (right patient, right drug, right route, right time, right dose, right documentation, right action, right form, right response, and right to refuse). Nurses should always keep good hand hygiene and always wear appropriate clothing to prevent from the spread of disease. Good communication with patients and healthcare team members is also key to success. Keeping on the eye on the patient within an appropriate time is important. If the patient ever seems to be looking different than their usual self vitals should be taken immediately. Encouraging patients to ask questions if they are unaware of something can prevent errors as well. Nurses should make sure the patient is on the same page as they are.
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...
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.
A medication error is any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or harm to a patient (NCCMERP 2014). The death rate for medication errors averages around 7,000 deaths per year. Lawsuits for medication errors were mainly made against registered nurses because nurses are the last people to check a medication before it is administered. 426 medication error related lawsuits were made against registered nurses. (RightDiagnosis 2014).
Safety is a primary concern in the health care environment, but there are still many preventable errors that occur. In fact, a study from ProPublica in 2013 found that between 210,000 and 440,000 patients each year suffer preventable harm in the hospital (Allen, 2013). Safety in the healthcare environment is not only keeping the patient safe, but also the employee. If a nurse does not follow procedure, they could bring harm to themselves, the patient, or both. Although it seems like such a simple topic with a simple solution, there are several components to what safety really entails. Health care professionals must always be cautious to prevent any mishaps to their patients, especially when using machines or lifting objects, as it has a higher
Patient safety one of the driving forces of healthcare. Patient safety is defined as, “ the absence of preventable harm to a patient during the process of healthcare or as the prevention of errors and adverse events caused by the provision of healthcare rather than the patient’s underlying disease process. (Kangasniemi, Vaismoradi, Jasper, &Turunen, 2013)”. It was just as important in the past as it is day. Our healthcare field continues to strive to make improvement toward safer care for patients across the country.
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.
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...
Patient safety is the basis of quality health care in the hospital. Works applied to patient safety and practices that have not prevented hazard have focused on negative outcomes of care, such as mortality and morbidity. Healthcare employees are important to the surveillance and coordination that will reduce such adverse effects.
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
This week readings bring us overview of the issues we face in today’s healthcare such as “safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable” care (IOM, 2001, p 3). Safety and quality of care are the major factors which I think must be address to assure the best possible patients’ outcomes and to build culture of safety.
Safety is the vital foundation of the healthcare system. Making sure patients are not victims of human errors while caring form them. Safety is what people think of when it comes to quality improvement. It refers to the treatment given in healthcare setting does not harm patients. Unfortunately, humans are not perfect and errors are made. In order to provide safe care, it is required from everyone to be involved in identifying opportunities where patient care can be made safer. Constant learning and proven based evidence are necessary to the improve care and prevent harm. There are many ways to prevent errors and cue staff before or while providing care in a medical setting, such as, doctor’s offices, hospital, nursing homes, or rehabilitation facilities. For example, making sure that medications are labeled, providing correct dose to correct patient. Making sure bed rails and
It is nearly impossible to motivate people to do what is right without exception. Patient safety officers create an environment that encourages to identify and report errors and “near misses”, all while having a supportive staff. The problem is there are not bad people in healthcare; the problem is that good people are working in systems that need to improve safety. By recording reports, it offers a strategy in raising the level of patient safety in healthcare, and it also explains how patients themselves can influence the quality of care they receive. Patient safety officers carry out activities to spread improvements across, reinforcing “Just Culture.” Patients along with the hospital staff need to be recognized and appropriately rewarded for their efforts and be able to work within a culture of trust. To bring about these much needed changes in healthcare administration and practice, it is important to focus on the conditions that allow positive events to propagate within a culture of safety.
I was also responsible for monitoring medication orders and reviewing patient profiles to ensure that the proper drugs and dosages were prescribed and that the pharmacy technician had prepared them properly. In many instances there were mistakes made in the preparation phase and sometimes even before, with incorrect dosages or drugs being prescribed and prepared, which could result in serious adverse effects for the patient. A clinical pharmacist’s role, however, is to make sure that these mistakes never reach the