Medication Best Practices Essay

1. The main legislation that governs the use of medication is The Medicines Acts 1968. The following is a list of legislations that have a direct impact upon the handling of medication within a social care setting.

The nurse must verify the physician’s medication order, including the dose and time, and then the pharmacy is responsible for their own checks and balances via the BCMA system in order to complete the dispensing phase of the medication (Gooder, 2011). The nurse enters the BCMA system with a login and password and is able then to see a list of the virtual due list for a specific patient. The computer on wheels is then taken to that patient’s room and the five rights of medication administration begin. As nurses, we are taught to use the five rights of drug administration are (1) right patient (2) right medication (3) right dose (4) right route and (5) right time. By scanning the barcode on the patient’s hospital identification band, the nurse then asks for the patient to verbally state their name and date of birth, which can be verified by the nurse on the virtual due list and then choses the medication that are due for administration at that time. The medication is dispensed and the nurse is able to scan the barcode on the medication, the scanning triggers the automatic documentation of the medication given (Kelly, 2012).

In 2003, The Joint Commission made one of their first goals to improve the accuracy of identifying patients to reduce or eliminate patient identification errors. This continues to be an accreditation requirement. Their recommendations to do this are to use at least two patient identifiers when administering medications, and when providing treatments or procedures. Acceptable identifiers may be the individual’s name, an assigned identification number, telephone number, or other person-specific identifier. Patient room number or physical location may not be used as an appropriate identifier. Healthcare provides should re-identify the patient with each encounter, each medication pass, and each procedure. There have been procedures and protocols throughout the country have been put into place to make the care provided to patients safer. Another element of this requirement is that all containers should be labeled in the patients presences after using the patient identifiers

Insures all tablets are placed together safely for the service user to access, in line with the carers no contact method. Also facilitates and promote independent administering.

The oral dosage would be 6 - 10 mg/kg PO (mixed in cola or other beverage) given 30 minutes before procedure.

Dosages of the drug vary from one extreme to another based upon the patients needs.

rights, health, and safety of the patient.” This provision, identifying patients, medication safety are related because it is a nurse’s responsibility to protect the patient from harm and promote safety. Nurses are taught to use multiple checks before administering a drug and use two identifiers. These checks include checking the medication against the order when obtaining it, checking again when preparing the medication and the last check is done at the patient’s bedside prior to giving the medication. Also it is imperative to question any medication order that does not seem fit. The order should include a date, time, name of the medication, dosage strength, the route for

Also to give medication respecting the person’s dignity and choice, to only give authorised medication from a labelled container, to give the medication according to the training received. Also to help to inform and educate the person about their medicine should they wish to know, to be aware of common side effects. It’s also important to record episodes of care accurately, also to report any problems to the manager.

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.

Radley, D., Wasserman, M., Olsho, L., Shoemaker, S., Spranca, M., & Bradshaw, B. (2013). Reduction in medications errors in hospitals due to adop

Medication should be initiated at the lowest available dose and titrated to the lowest effective dose.

It is estimated that 20 percent of prescriptions that are written are never filled. The high cost of medication is one of the reasons that many people do not get their prescriptions filled. Going without needed medication can have adverse effects on one's health. Below are some things that can be done to save money on prescription drugs:

In the United States, approximately 20% of 30-day hospital readmissions are due to inconsistent transition of care (TOC).5, 13 This means the expenditure of billions of unnecessary dollars that could have been prevented if the patients had received proper, coordinated, and consistent care from discharge back to the community. In fact, Medicare reports show more than 17 billion dollars a year are spent on preventable readmissions, leading cause being improper medication usage after discharge.1 Up to 2% of these medication discrepancies were life-threatening and even led to death.7 Medication discrepancies often occur when patients have a lack of understanding of discharge medication plans, inadequate literacy to understand the dismissal notes, become nonadherent to medication regimen, and/or experience adverse drug events.8, 11 Expanding community pharmacists’ involvement in post-discharge TOC and improving communication will benefit patients, healthcare providers, and the healthcare system through decreased hospital readmission, medication related adverse events, and financial burden.

Prescription medication is an important part of healthcare and a must have for patients because it helps manage a lot of symptoms and diseases. It can help kill bacteria causing patients to feel ill, it can also reduce pain and suffering for others. However, most mediations have some type of adverse side effects as it is made from chemicals processes or extracts from herbal plants. There are contraindications and cautions to every medication in which we have to be aware of when prescribing the medication; there is also drug to drug interactions that may occur. To help prevent medication errors we can use online resources to look for any drug to drug interactions and contraindication/adverse effects. We also need to stress the importance

In order to gain the full benefit of your medication, you must take it as directed. As most prescriptions are daily use, it’s important you remember to take your medication every day. Incorporate