Medication Errors Case Study

• Medical staff have proper knowledge to deal with medical abbreviations written on medicine and its consumption process.
• They have proper knowledge of medicine storing process and also know the safety rules related to medicine suggestion to patient.

There are procedures to follow for administering medication, by which there is less probability of mistakes by the nurses (Koppel, Wetterneck, Telles, & Karsh, 2008). Although lot of other types of errors occur , my case study focuses on only medication errors and related legal & ethical implications. Ethical implications will focus on Battery, error disclosure, maleficence/non-maleficence, erosion of trust and impact on quality care etc.

Nurses are legally responsible for the correct administration

All the above “rights” have their individual importance. Though we have all other rights and if the “Right Time” is missing then impacts the health of the patient. In the current case study it is observed that the medication was left at patient bed side table for the patient to administer himself. But all the medication should be dispensed within 20 minutes of the prescribed time. Otherwise it results in many legal and ethical issues.

After medication was administered it is nurse’s responsibility to monitor and document the effect of the drugs. But this case study shows that the meds are left and was not known since how long they were there. Missing medications also results in health complications. For example hypertensive patient should receive anti-hypertensives on time, otherwise the increase in Blood pressure results in some other serious health conditions.

Ethical Concerns
Ethics is philosophy that deals with good, bad, right or wrong. Ethics will direct a professional what to be done or what not to be. Ethical standards and principles helps guide for their work. Nurses adhere to the ANMC code of ethics, which will guide them to practice professionally with ethical manner (Nursing & Council, 2012). A description of ethical behaviour is to ‘do the right thing when nobody else is

This applies to all types data’ (Nursing & Council, 2012).
Beneficence: Doing good. Nurse breached the beneficence. Nurse did not do anything good to patient. She just left the medication there, by which there is certain harm for the patient. He did not take any medication which is morning dose, which will show a significant effect on his health. It is not at all a good idea either to leave medication or to breach the policy of right time.
Non Maleficence: This principle says do no harm. But in this case study it is clear that nurse is already harming the patient either indirectly or directly by leaving medication there & not administered. If the prescribed medication was not taken on time, it will harm the health of the patient with some deterioration in his current health status. Such harm may lead to serious illness or loss of any organ, sometimes may lead to end of life as well.
Justice: Nurse was unfair to elderly and she did not provide proper care for him. Equality should be there towards all the patients. When the nurse can give and witness other patient’s medication, she have to behave the same way to this elderly as