Work Place Distractions Lead to Deadly Outcomes Effective Ways to Reduce Medication Errors in the Health Care Setting Lincoln University Suzanne Norman-Ybarra One of the greatest fears of any nurse is harming or killing a patient by making a critical medication error. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reports that a person dies accidently every day from a medication error and approximately 1.3 million sustain an injury from medication errors (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2016). Medication errors can result from the initial prescribing of the order, transcribing the order, entering the order, dispensing the medication, repackaging the medication with improper labeling, administering the medication incorrectly, …show more content…
In an effort to reduce the occurrence of medication errors, JHACO has thoroughly investigated and implemented new safety standards of care. JHACO implemented a new standard referred to as the “10 Rights of Drug Administration.” 1. The Right Drug, 2. Right Patient, 3. Right Dose, 4. Right Route, 5. Right Time and Frequency, 6. Right Documentation, 7. Right History and Assessment, 8. Drug approach and Right to Refuse, 9. Right Drug to Drug Interaction and Evaluation, and 10. Right Education and Information. Failure to follow the 10 Rights of Medication Administration can result in a patient’s injury or death (Potter, Perry, Hall, & Stockert, 2013). Further research in safety has proven that reviewing the physicians order three times significantly reduced transcribing errors or entering the order incorrectly into the electronic medical record. Training new nurses and experienced nurses to review every order three times has shown beneficial in patient safety and has reduced medication errors. Nurses and medical staff involved in medication administration are encouraged to have a buddy system, where there are two nurses or trained staff members who double check all medication calculations and assist with verifying high risk medication dosages. When there is a discrepancy concerning any medication administration, a Stop, Think and Call policy is implemented and the medication is held until proper documentation and verification have been obtained.
As many European countries began to establish themselves in global trade, they brought with them the new resource of silver. Being the primary producers of the valuable commodity, they became very involved in global trade thus improving their economies. As the Mongol Yuan dynasty fell, China’s economy also faced many negative repercussions including the overuse of paper money. When the Ming conquered the Yuan, they inherited the currency issue and began to require that all taxes and fees be paid in silver. The growth of the flow of silver between the 16th and 18th centuries caused social and economic impacts in many regions by creating economic opportunities in European countries, both weakening and strengthening them, and increasing social
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
Medication errors are preventable and cause great harm to the patients and their families. Every year in Australian hospitals, medication errors occur as nurses do not follow the 9 rights of medication administration. The 9 rights are right patient, drug, route, time, documentation, response, action and form (Fossum et al., 2016). Medication errors can be caused by
Medication errors are one of the leading causes within a patient care setting thatcan jeopardize the client’s safety, and can even potentially be fatal. The six patient rights,right dose, time, route, medication, patient and documentation, all help prevent errors andpromote patient safety. The nurse needs to check off each patient right in order tosuccessfully pass medications. One of the leading causes for missing one of these patientrights is interruptions in the process of medication administration prep, or when activelygiving the medication to the patient. This paper will discuss why interruptions duringmedication administration can cause errors, and interventions the nurse can do to avoidputting the patient in
Medication error is defined as the following by the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention: “any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of health care professional, patient, or consumer. Such events may be related to professional practice, health care products, procedures, and systems, including prescribing; order communication; product labeling; packaging, and nomenclature; compounding; dispensing; distribution; administration; education; monitoring; and use” (Anthony, Wiencek, Bauer, Daly, & Anthony, 2010). Medication errors cause increased length of patient hospitalization and morbidity and mortality (Pape
Essentially the faith of all the nurses administering medications in that hospital laid in the accuracy of the system being utilized. It is important for nurse leaders to assure the understanding to all nurses that the IT system is not a flawless system. Nurse’s must be aware that the basic nursing fundamentals must still be practiced. In this case, if the nurse utilized the basic nurse application of the Eight Rights of medication administration: the right drug, the right patient, the right dose, the right time, the right route, the right reason, the right response, and the right documentation (Nursing 2013 Drug Handbook, 2013) the medication administration error may have been avoided. It is important for nurse leaders to educate nurses to report glitches in the IT system right away if they are found. Even if the glitch may seem small, it could potentially cause a disastrous outcome. Providing an easily accessible person to report these system errors when found, assures patient safety, the best patient outcomes, and a safe working environment for the healthcare team. Lastly, nurse leaders should assure that nurses have a clear understanding on how to properly use the HER system. Accidental deletion of patient information or accidental omission of current patient information may cause safety related issues and an
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 administration is the foremost responsibility of a nurse (Sung et al. 2008). Pronovost et al. in 2005 mentioned that errors occur during medication administration which jeopardise in patients safety. Medication errors are the most common type of errors in the healthcare centres ultimately resulting in the high financial costs to
Medication mistakes is a critical global issue and the utmost principle widespread dilemma that terrorizes patient safety that might spearhead to disability or death if not detected, and medication error are virtually never deliberate and regrettably occur in healthcare
In today’s current fast-paced and demanding field of heath care, medication administration has become complex and time-consuming task. Approximately one-third of the nurses’ time is used in medication administration. There is much potential for error because of the complexity of the medication administration process. Since nurses are the last ones to actually administer the medication to the patient therefore they become responsible for medication administration errors (MAE). Reasons for MAE may include individual factors, organizational factors or system factors. This paper will discuss the root causes analysis of MAE and strategies to prevent them.
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 dispensing errors, prescription errors , administration errors, and failure to monitor patient’s progress to name a
Nurses are the health care professionals that collect and prepare medications for patients. They examine the doctor’s orders to see what medications patients are prescribed. Errors can occur in the distribution of these medications. As a result, the nursing ethic of do no harm may not occur. According to McIntyre, Thomlinson, & McDonald, “nurses are held in high regard” (2006, p.360). As such, nurses must keep this positive concept, as we are the health professionals that care for people when they are at their most vulnerable. There is a need for nurses to reflect back to nursing school and use the information taught to guide decisions regarding medications and their administration. This paper will examine medication administration errors
When I say this, however, most people would picture the nurse giving the wrong medication due to lack of focus on the tasks at hand. While this could happen, I have noticed during my time at hospitals that the doctor orders are still hand written for the most part. Consequently, they can be very hard to be read legibly much less correctly translated into proper medication dosages. The first suggestion I would give to an organization would be that they required all orders to be submitted securely, by the doctors, to the pharmacy be electronic means.
Medication errors occur more often than they should. It is recorded that medication errors occur in children every eight minutes or in every 25 out of 1900 children. Adults older than age of 65 are seven times at a greater risk of being victim of medication errors than those adults under the of age 65. What is a medication error? A medication error is a event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in control of the healthcare professional, patient, or a consumer. The patient has to actually receive the drug in order for it to be considered a medication error. Detrimental patient outcomes are associated with medication errors. A few of the many harmful effects include medication overdose, stroke, heart attack, organ damage, harm to fetus, paralysis, and death. The numbers of occurring medication errors are staggering but they can be prevented. There a precautions to take in order to safely administer and prevent medication errors, which requires following the “six rights of medication administration”. These six rights are as followed, right patient, right drug, right dose, right route, right time & date, and the right documentation.
Patient safety is of high importance in the healthcare field. Medication errors are still of great concern in the healthcare setting. These errors are only one of many safety concerns. Medication errors occur often enough to be problematic, causing researchers to try to find the problem and come up with a solution. This error is a massive problem when a big part of nursing is delivering medications to patients. A health facility is thought to be a safe environment, when incidents like medication errors