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Medication Errors In The Emergency Department

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Giving medication in the Emergency Department in theory should be just like any other department. The difference in medication administration in the Emergency Department from others is the environment. Medication errors can be caused from a number of things, omission, time delay, wrong dose, wrong route, etc. The problem in the Emergency Department with medication errors is nurse distractions during the medication process. According to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, (2012) nurses are distracted or interrupted four times during a single medication administration. Distractions and interruptions affect the nurses memory. This writer has developed the following PICO question for this problem is: What evidence-based practices should …show more content…

The studies reviewed are: Medication errors: classification of seriousness, type, and of medications involved in the reports from a University Teaching Hospital (Dalmolin, Rotta, & Goldim, 2013), Types and causes of medication errors from nurse 's viewpoint (Cheragi, Manoocheri, Mohammadnejad, & Ehsani, 2013), and Prevalence and Nature of Medication Administration Errors in Health Care Settings: A Systematic Review of Direct Observational Evidence (Keers, Williams, Cooke, & Ashcroft, 2013). The remaining data reviewed consisted of peer reviewed articles, they were the following: The Effect of a Safe Zone on Nurse Interruptions, Distractions, and Medication Administration Errors (Yoder, Schadewald, & Dietrich, 2015), Celebrating Human Resilience to Provide Safe Care (Moffett & Moore, 2011), and A New Mindset for Quality and Safety: The QSEN Competencies Redefine Nurses ' Roles in Practice (Sherwood & Zomorodi, …show more content…

The given reason being nurses are not likely to report the errors and only when clinincal consequences arise are they discovered. The focus of the Dalmolin, Rotta, & Goldim, (2013) study was to evalualte the medication errors for the types, seriousness, and medication groups involved. The study was conducted at the Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre(HCPA) between January 2010 and December 2011. The study was conducted using a retrospective and cross-sectional study process. The study used data on medication errors, that was submitted to the Group for Safe Use of Medications. 165 reports were used, of those the study determined that 114 were acutal medication errors and 51 potential

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