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Medication Errors Essay

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Medication errors are a major preventable health issue in hospitals, extended care facilities, and home health agencies. Errors in medication administration can contribute to allergic reactions, hospital acquired disease or disability, and possibly even death. As part of the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) initiative, there are several competency areas for nurses to focus on to better patient care. In regards to medication errors, informatics and teamwork are essential practices to ensure medication is given with the utmost regard for the eventual health of the individual receiving the treatment. Teamwork and informatics are linked for the purpose of avoiding medication errors because medications are prescribed by doctors, administered …show more content…

Documentation is critical so that other healthcare employees can do their job effectively. Potter and Perry (2013) state it is important,” to be aware of the side effects that missing doses have on a patient (e.g. with hypertension or diabetes)” (Potter and Perry, 2013, p. 591). In addition, it is the job of the prescribing doctor to enter the prescription information into the health management system correctly so the pharmacist can get the prescribed medication to the client. The pharmacist must also make sure all data is entered correctly to ensure all labels are accurate so the nurses can do their job. Since medication administration is still very much a human run task, using technology correctly is an integral part of preventing medication mistakes and being a good team-mate. Being able to depend on each team-mate to do their part of the job is integral to the success of the patient. Teamwork and informatics are important for successful medication administration. Many medication mistakes are preventable using the informatics provided by the hospital or clinic. Also, valued team members should be available to clarify any medication questions for the safety of the client. In conclusion, the use of these two important competencies are a win-win in terms of medication administration. When teams work together and document effectively less errors occur,

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Preventable medical mistakes cause approximately 200,000 deaths around the United States each year. (1) More than 1,000,000 Americans are negatively impacted by medication errors each year caused by inadvertent mistakes in the prescription filling process. With 4 out of 5 adults taking at least 1 medication daily and 1 out of 4 adults taking 5 or more medications daily nationwide, errors like these cost healthcare industry billions of dollars per year. Health information technology were developed to transform healthcare services, the way they are provided and compensated. Electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) becomes an internal part of that transformation process, which can be confirmed from annual Surescripts’ National Progress Report.

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