Dispensing Limitations

Goal three by the National Patient Safety Goal for 2014 is to use medicines safely. Many errors occur regularly with medications which is why communication is so important with the doctors, nurses and patients. One process that Joint Commission requires in accredited HCO’s is medication reconciliation “creating the most accurate list possible off all medications a patient is taking, including drug name, dosage, frequency, and route, and comparing that list against the physician’s admission, transfer, and/or discharge orders with the goal of providing correct medications to the patients at all transition points within the hospital (Finkelman & Kenner, 2012, p. 388)”. Ensuring medication reconciliation to the patient, health providers and any new consults that are

Despite all of the on top of, it's going to appear that giving patients medication isn't a very troublesome task, but it's one with life and death implications. According the U.S. Food and Drug Administration medication

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA 2009), the wrong route of administrating medication accounts for 1.3 million injuries each year. An article published in September issue of the Journal of Patient Safety estimates there are between 210,000 and 400,000 deaths per year associated with medical errors. This makes medical errors the third leading cause of deaths in the United States, behind that comes heart disease and cancer. To prevent medical errors always follow the Three Checks and most importantly the Rights of Medication Administration. The “Rights of Medication Administration” helps to ensure accuracy when administering medication to a patient. When administering medication the administer should ensure they have the Right Medication, Right Patient, Right Dosage, Right Route, Right Time, Right Route, Right Reason, and Right Documentation. Also remember the patient has the right to refuse, assess patient for pain, and always assess the patient for signs of effects.

Medication errors are the leading cause of morbidity and preventable death in hospitals (Adams). In fact, approximately 1.5 million Americans are injured each year as a result of medication errors in hospitals (Foote). Not only are medication errors harmful to patients but medication errors are very expensive for hospitals. Medication errors cost America’s health care system 3.5 billion dollars per year (Foote).Errors in medication administration occurs when one of the five rights of medication administration is omitted. The five rights are: a) the right dose, b) the right medication, c) the right patient, d) the right route of administration, and e) the right time of delivery (Adams). Medication administration is an essential part of

Why is it important that a pharmacist knows each medication that a person is taking before they provide a new drug?

There are several types of medication, each has a purpose and function needed for their administration via the different routes.

The risks associated with administering non prescribed medication occur when there is not sufficient knowledge about contraindications and potential interactions with other medicines already taken. Before administering OTC medicine support workers should be familiar with organisational policy in relation to these medicines. Or see advice and guidance from pharmacist and/or GP and/or seek permission from your manager.

Outcome measures assess whether the interventions to improve medication safety practice will be successful. During the interview of the new employee, competency evaluation related to medication administration will be applied first. In addition, during the orientation for these new employees, adequate training will be provided to ensure the importance of preventing medication errors. They will be given a list of similar and look-alike medications and will focus on medications that cause the most adverse reactions when errors may occur. Then, after training and when staff start working, they will be supervised during their first few months. When they are not supervised, they will be assessed and evaluated for any errors. During this process,

Improve the safety of using medications. The findings were that often medication error were made because medications and other solutions were removed from their original

drugs can be potentially dangerous for a patient, particularly if they are receiving medications from different clinicians who are not communicating with each

All persons who administer medications should have adequate access to patient information, as close to the point of use as possible, including medical history, known allergies, prognosis, and treatment plan, to assess the appropriateness of administering the medication. (National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention).

The earlier in a nursing student schooling they are aware of the impact medication errors can have on patients the more of an impact the education will have. One of the basic tenants of safe medication administration is the three checks and the five rights. Three checks of medication labeling should be performed when reaching for the medication, when retrieving from the medication dispersal unit and before giving the medication to the patient. The five rights of medication: right medication, right patient, right dosage, right route and right time are also to be performed before each distribution of medication to a patient. (Taylor, Lillis, Lynn, & LeMone, 2015). This simple intervention can help to eliminate most potential medication error problems. But while learning such strategies is essential to helping build a culture of safety within a health care facility nothing compares to hands on experience. Getting nursing students’ clinical medication administration experience early in their education can build confidence and instill the qualities needed to be a safe

Chapter IV explains that not everyone in the healthcare profession is permitted to dispense medicine without a physician order, there are regulations and precautions that must be observed in order to prevent misunderstandings. It is very important to see out any situations that the patient may have that prevents them from healthcare whether it is transportation, medicine allergies or disabilities. According to a U.S Food and Drug Administration article, 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, patient, or consumer. Such events may be related to professional practice, health care products, procedures,

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

Medication error is one of the biggest problems in the healthcare field. Patients are dying due to wrong drug or dosage. Medication error is any preventable incident that leads to inappropriate medication use or harms the patient while the medication is in the control of the health care professional,or patient (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2015). It is estimated about 44,000 inpatients die each year in the United States due to medication errors which were indeed preventable (Mahmood, Chaudhury, Gaumont & Rust, 2012). There are many factors that contribute to medication error. However, the most common that factors are human factors, right patient information, miscommunication of abbreviations, wrong dosage. Healthcare providers do not intend to make medication errors, but they happen anyways. Therefore, nursing should play a tremendous role to reduce medication error