Introduction In this paper, a meaningful clinical event, regarding delayed medications, is examined. The paper explores the importance of right-time administration and explores the causative factors and preventative measures of wrong-time errors. As a final point, I describe how I would handle the scenario differently after learning strategies to reduce late medication administrations, thus reducing patient harm. Look Back/Elaborate During week five, I was assigned to two patients (A and B), one of whom is a shared client (patient B) between me and a colleague. Strategically, my colleague and I planned out the first half of the shift, such that we would perform vital signs and head-to-toe assessments first, administer medications in …show more content…
In the event, I felt distressed and frustrated because I failed to perform daily tasks on time, most importantly medication administration. Furthermore, these emotions were heightened by feelings of not being able to deliver the best possible care and thoughts of my nurses being disappointed in me because of my poor performance. Essentially, these negative feelings arise from my values and beliefs of being punctual and providing safe and high quality care. These values are shaped by my family and profession as I was always disciplined and taught the importance of being on time and promoting patient safety, respectively. Essentially, one significant key issue from the event previously discussed, relates to my inability to deliver medications at the specified time. It is important to administer drugs on time to maintain patient safety, since late medications may result in ineffective treatments and unstable patient conditions. Analysis As previously mentioned, right-time medication administration is important to prevent patient harm. Medications are considered late when they are delivered beyond 30 minutes of the scheduled time or depending on the hospital policy. Certain medications, such as antibiotics and Parkinson disease drugs, follow strict schedules to provide and maintain therapeutic blood levels. In particular, antibiotics should be administered on time to prevent bacterial resistance and
Medication errors in the hospital setting have significant potential to result in serious injury and even death, thus effecting patients, families, health care professionals, and hospitals. Approximately 400,000 adverse drug effects (ADE) occur each year (Institute of Medicine, 2006). Considering that not all medication errors are discovered and reported, this number is likely to be underestimated. These errors not only contribute to patient morbidity and mortality, but also cause increased length of stay and hospital expenses. It is estimated by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) that $3.5 billion is spent annually as a result of ADEs (IOM, 2006).
In the book Things Fall Apart by chinua achebe, theirs a character name okonkwo who is viewed as abusive, well known, and wealthy. The book consist of okonkwo and his conflicts within his compound. Throughout the book okonkwo will be faced with a lot of challenges.
during the time the medication was missed. I would educate all staff on the importance
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
Nurses are in charge of administering medications, often more than one medication, and most of the time they have multiple patients. Being in charge medication passes pose a massive threat to errors (Huges,
The poem "The Groundhog" composed by Richard Eberhart reflects the perception, emotion, and thoughts of a person who has experienced death first hand. The poem set in June in a golden field setting the mood light and warm until Eberhart presents the groundhog lying dead. The atmosphere quickly becomes dark and passionate allowing the audience to experience the changes in the perception and emotions of the speaker while considering the metamorphosis of the dead groundhog. As the speaker explores the golden fields, he stumbles upon a "groundhog lying dead."
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.
A major concern or challenge of ABC hospital is a recent incident of medication administration error in its emergency room (ER) which almost resulted in the death of a 55-year-old female patient. This is a case of medication administration through the wrong route. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defines a medication error as "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, and systems, including prescribing; order communication; product labeling, packaging, and nomenclature; compounding;
As a leader in the workplace, medication errors mostly occur when the workplace is understaffed with a patient load of full nursing cares that require more attention and care than patients who are independent. Due to being understaffed with a patient load of 13 to 2 nurses, medication errors occur more often as nurses are being rushed to finish all cares within their work timeframe. To decrease medication errors it is important to implement more staff during medication rounds, thus giving nurses additional time to concentrate and assure that the correct medication and dose is being given to the right patient ( ). The 6 medication rights are important to implement into every workplace as it decreases the chances of administrating medication to the wrong patients ( ). The medication right include; ______________________________________________________________ ( ). Medication errors have important implications for patient safety and in improving clinical practice errors to prevent any adverse events (
As defined by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA, 2015), a medication error is “any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or harm to a patient.” In order to prevent harm by medications, nurses and nursing students alike are required to adhere to the “seven patient rights,” which help eliminate any possible errors in the medication administration process. These seven rights include: right patient, right drug, right dose, right route, right time, right action and right documentation. However, many medication errors continue to occur because one or more of these rights is either violated, or omitted altogether. Research done by Polifroni, et al. (2003), shows that the most common errors in medication administration are those involving the time of administration and the dosage amount. These errors are often a direct result of the nurse’s increasingly chaotic practicing environment. Increasing nursing shortages create a larger patient load for each nurse, making is easier for the nurse to get distracted and inadvertently miss the dose,
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).
Patient information, drug instruction, communication amongst medical staff member, drug labels, patient literacy and the nurses knowledge of the medication are just to name a few. It only takes one of these aspects to be incorrect for a medication error to harm a patient, causing life changing or even life threating complications. Other circumstances that may contribute to medication errors include fatigue and staffing shortage. Nurses reported that fatigue, stress and understaffing increased the risk of making a medication error. Anderson, (2010). Majority of clinical staff work 12 hours shifts. Due to patient acuity and inadequate staffing, workload and hours many times are increased. sleep deprivation has been shown to be a major factor in medication errors. The diminished hours of sleep effect clarity of thought causing room for errors. Novice nursing has also been a component of many medication errors. Unexperienced nurses are overwhelmed with the increased workload and new responsibilities, which places them in danger of making these dangerous inaccuracies. While rushing to pass meds in a timely manner, critical medication errors reportedly made. Actively adhering to the five rights of medication administration measures while distributing patient medication can inherently cut down on errors made in the nursing
For my seventh clinical shift at the Loma Linda Veterans Affairs Medical Center, my assigned preceptor Filipina Gumangan assigned me three patients on the 4NW unit. The unit where I precept is an intensive care step down unit. Filipina’s objective for giving me three patients this shift was to give me an opportunity to continue exercising my time management skills and to practice my reporting and charting skills, and wound care. This shift I was responsible for many clinical duties corresponding to the care of these patients. My patients this shift were Mr. B, a 72 year-old Vietnam War veteran newly diagnosed with colon cancer, Mr. S, a 65 year-old Vietnam War veteran in the hospital for complicated urinary tract infection, Mr. R, a 90 year-old Korean and Vietnam War veteran. Caring for these patients taught me more about the humanbecoming perspective of nursing and showed me about multidisciplinary coordination with peers, colleagues, and more.
In order to clearly communicate about these issues, definitions for key terms are included below. Medication error consists of administering medications outside of they dosing parameters; including wrong dose, wrong route, wrong time, wrong patient, wrong medication etc. According to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices ( 2015) “ an independent double check(IDC) is a process in which a second practitioner conducts a verification”(par.5). Independent double checks are a method used to improve the safety of medication administration. Some medications have higher risks of harm for the patient if given in error. High Alert Medications(HAM) are drugs that bear a heightened risk of causing significant harm when they are used in error.(ISMP, 2014). All above terms are relevant to the research done for the purpose of this paper.
Though the magnitude of our trade today is unprecedented to history, its foundation can be linked to The Silk Road. The Silk Road is referred to an ancient network of trading routes that started around the 2nd century B.C, reaching its zenith around the time of the Tang dynasty (6th-9th c.) and declining in the late 14th century B.C. . Its origin dates back to the Han Dynasty where the Silk Road was used to reach out to surrounding cities and empires to develop alliances for trade. The original purpose for The Silk Road was to link China to Europe through trade and for political reasons, but later on merchants discovered that the route provided safer travel for carrying merchandise from place to place. Not long after merchants and nomads