Adverse Drug Reactions

When it comes to medication errors several things may occur such as adverse drug event, unexpected deterioration, and even death in severe cases. AHRQ (2015) states, “an adverse drug event (ADE) is defined as harm experienced by a patient as a result of exposure to a medication, and ADEs account for nearly 700,000 emergency department visits 100,000 hospitalizations each year.” There are many ways that errors may occur such as dispensary errors, prescription errors

Research shows that medication error in hospitals and other health care settings leads to 373,000 preventable adverse drug events (ADEs) per year and that these events would increase to 478,000 within 20 years in the absence of additional preventive measures (Federal Register, 2004).

It is revealed that more mistakes are made in prescription and these mistakes associated with adverse drug reaction (ADR). To avoid prescription mistakes, in some health care settings pharmacist take that responsibility of correcting medication errors related with wrong drug, wrong dose, and prescription of allergic

It is, therefore, critical to educate and encourage ADR self-reporting among nurses to manage patient safety and improve patient outcomes. Diligent and standardized reporting of ADRs ensures efficient and safe use of medications. Once the adverse drug reactions are detected and reported, the multidisciplinary team can examine, evaluate and implement effective clinical processes to prevent reoccurrences. The patient health outcomes are thus improved, as measures taken significantly reduce risks associated with medication use.

The pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of many commonly used drugs vary significantly across all age groups. Adverse Drug Reactions are one of the major concerns in the elderly. Adverse drug reactions, especially those that may be preventable, are among the most serious concerns about medication use in elderly in clinical setting. The incidence of adverse drug reactions in patients more than 60 years old compared with younger patients (age less than 30 years) increased by two or threefold. The ageing process is associated with physiological and pathological changes. It then makes individuals at a higher risk of multiple morbidity and treatment-related complications. Predisposing factors to adverse drug reactions which have been noted including

Suggestions to decrease drug errors and harm is for medical professionals to utilize the “five rights” which are the right individual, the right medication, the right dosage, the right route, and the given at the right time. The five rights ought to be known as the goal of the drug procedures not the “be all and end all” of the safety of medications. The five rights concentrated on the medical professional’s performance and not on their human aspects and system flaws that could possibly cause implementing the tasks to be very challenging or impossible. It’s the physician or specialists job is not all about attaining the five rights, but it’s to follow the rules that were created within the organization to generate these results and outcomes

The administration of medication can be associated with a significant risk with it is recognized as a central feature of the nursing role. It should continue in order to avoid a possible medical malpractice continuous care. Nursing staff have a unique role usually given to patients to manage their medication and responsibilities, then they can report these identified medication errors. Some of the most distinguishable events can be related to errors in professional practice, prescribing, dispensing, distribution, and education or monitoring. Since medication errors can arise at any state of the administration process, it is essential for nursing staff to be attentive of the most commonly encountered errors. For the most part, the common of the perceptible aspects related with medication errors are due to minimal awareness about hospital policies, inappropriate implementation or latent conditions (Farinde, n.d).

Medications are used as one of the interventional strategies in the prevention and management of various ailments. Although medications are useful to patients, when used inappropriately, they are not only harmful to patients but also impair the reputation of physicians. Medication Errors (MEs) are known to occur in the healthcare setting. According to National Coordination Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCCMERP) medication errors are defined as “Any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of a healthcare professional, patient or consumer”. Medication errors occur when a healthcare professional performs an act that

The definition of a medication error is, an error in the process of administrating medication, which has the potential to lead to and possibly, harm to the patient. In an article written by Teunissen et al, “38% of all serious medication errors are related to medication administration and that the other medication processes (i.e., ordering, transcription, and dispensing) accounted for 39%, 12%, and 11% of all serious medication errors, respectively,”(Teunissen et al, 2013). They found that time sensitive medication errors are the most common. This study used different types of medications, including those medications that react with food. There was a variety because some medications aren’t as time sensitive as others may be. They concluded that time sensitive errors are clinically relevant in very few cases. Although the relevance of time errors may be small compared to other errors, clinical consequences may still occur as a result and a reduction of this type of errors would still be favorable, (Teunissen et al, 2013).

Adverse drug events are hard to predict because every patient has an individual situation where different accommodations are required. It will take 12 months for an informational pamphlet to be made and for pre intervention to take place. Professionals will educate patients on their illness and what they are able to do for themselves. Patients are able to take care of themselves if they are more knowledgeable about lifestyle changes and necessary medications (Bigelow 2005). The actual time where patients and medical professionals will change their actions regarding medicine changes and increasing staff will take about 24 months. Post intervention will take another 12 months and during this period, surveys and follow ups will happen to prevent

All drugs have been created to help people assist with their body’s needs, control symptoms of a diagnosis, and improve the quality of life. Unfortunately, all drugs come with adverse events that cannot be demolished. Gratefully, the majority of adverse events have been discovered and there are ways to help eliminate some of these. All medical professionals educate themselves with adverse events, in an attempt to help our patients.

Preventable ADEs are integrated to “medication errors” , while non-preventable ADEs are considered adverse drug reactions (ADRs) that could not be avoided. Errors that may cause harm but patient do not experience the potential harm are termed potential ADEs.

Drug errors or drug-related injuries are one of the most serious medical mistakes that can happen in hospitals, occurring in about half of surgeries. Examples of treatment medical errors are errors in issuing the treatment, dose or method of using a drug, error in the performance of an operation, a test, or procedure. Avoidable delays in treatment, responding to a test, and giving inappropriate care also examples of treatment medical errors. Medical error is defined as a preventable adverse effect of medical care whether or not evident or harmful to the patient. Often viewed as the human error factor in healthcare, this is a highly complex subject related to many factors such as incompetency, lack of education or

When a patient/volunteer being administered a drug under clinical trials or outside trials in case of a treatment regimen, undergoes an adverse event to his/her health it is considered to be an adverse event (AE) and is reported and documented. Adverse drug reaction (ADR) is a sub-type of AE. ADR is reported when the patient expresses an unwanted reaction to the administering of a trial drug.

An Adverse event is defined as any undesirable event that a patient experiences while taking a medication. This includes many things, such as a motor vehicle collision or falling down the stairs. An Adverse event is different from an Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR). An Adverse Drug Reaction, as defined by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, is a response to a medicinal product that is noxious or unintended1. These adverse reactions may be an already known side effect or a new side effect not previously recognized. ADRs are very burdensome to the patient’s wellbeing, they increase healthcare cost, and roughly half of the reactions may be preventable.