Lesson 7 Small Group Discussion

Lesson 7 Small-Group Discussion. Patient Safety
Step 1 In a report by the Institute of Medicine (2006), Titled, Preventing Medication Errors, “The committee concludes that there are at least 1.5 million preventable adverse drug events (ADE’s) that occur in the United States each year.” These numbers are astonishing given the number of adults that are taking prescription medications daily. Most of the errors occur during the prescribing and administering steps and during an average hospital stay, a patient can expect to have one medication error occur every day (Institute of Medicine, 2006). Medication errors are preventable adverse events and costly to patients, insurance companies and health care organizations (Institute of Medicine, 2006). It is estimated that for every adverse drug event that occurs in a hospital, adds over 8,000 to the hospital stay (Institute of Medicine, 2006). One of the essential components in reducing medication error is a collaborative partnership with the patient and healthcare providers to facilitate communication. Patient education regarding risks, side effects, drug interactions and contraindications must be thoroughly reviewed with the patient (Institute of Medicine, 2006). The use of technology for prescribing, dispensing and to obtain detailed information regarding

The first element identified for the safety goal is staff and patient education on surgical site infection. Staff at my facility must undergo mandatory training upon hire and yearly regarding policies, procedures and protocols that need to be strictly adhered to in the prevention of surgical site infection. Patient’s are educated prior to surgery during the preoperative phone call and asked to bathe the morning of the surgery or the night before using antibacterial soap. For total joint procedures there are additional steps in the