Administering medication is a fundamental role in a nurse’s daily routine in the ward. This process happens at least twice daily and on average takes up to forty percentage of nurse’s time. It is also this skill that is higher risk, it is a step that is very susceptible to errors that can lead to consequences in patient safety. Medication governance has been put in place to prevent errors and promote patient safety. However, medication errors are still recurrent and persistent. This forty percentage of time is spent by nurses giving their time, concentration, and excellent communication for their patient. Each medication must be checked and administered accurately yet promptly. It is very hard for a nurse in stress-fuelled wards to spend just one hour on this job as they can be constantly interrupted throughout the process. Nurses must also remember that administration is the final step of a four-stage process of the medical. The four stages include other healthcare professionals in the “medication cycle”, they include the patient’s doctor, the pharmacist and finally the nurses. If the nurse’s errors with medication during administration, she/he is solely to blame however. Other professionals are equally at fault when a medication error occurs along the stages. The four stages involve the prescription, the transcription, dispensing and …show more content…
Patients who suffer long term illnesses have complicated regimes and medication errors can often occur with several drugs interacting with each other. Nurses must use professional judgement if certain medications are not suitable with each other as it could have adverse side effects. These adverse drug reactions could contribute to mortality and morbidity and can be determined by age, gender and the amount of drugs taken. Many patients are given medication that don’t correspond correctly with another drug they are
In the hospital there is continuously a chance of medical errors, “Chasing Zero” is the initiative to change that. Families who has suffered tragedies due to human error in the healthcare setting have come together to ensure future patients do not suffer from the same mistakes. There are multiple improvements that are being put in place. One major change is to help with medication errors, it is an additional check to ensure the nurse is following the five right of medication administration. Before administrating the medication along with the three checks the nurse themselves should have already done, they also have to scan the medication along with the patients wristband.
The idea remains that the dispersal of stable patients to MNAs in regards to medication administration allocates more time for RNs/ LPNs to prioritize care for critical patients. A stable patient is defined by the New Hampshire Board of Nursing as one “whose overall health status, as assessed by a licensed nurse, is at the expected baseline”. Research conducted by Randolph and Scott-Cawiezell revealed trends in medication errors prior to and following the integration of MNAs. “Before the introduction of medication aides, error rates were as follows: RN (11.55%) and LPN (10.12%) with a mean error rate of 10.4%.
Moreover, several studies have been conducted to examine the effects of low nurse staffing on patients hospitalization experiences, as well as its effect on nurse careers in the long run. A recent study by Frith, Anderson, Tseng, and Fong (2012) to explore the relationship between nurse staffing and medication errors, demonstrated that medication errors were higher in a cardiac care unit and non-cardiac care unit when staffing levels were lower. In addition, Frith et al. (2012) pointed out that medication errors increase by 18% for every 20% decrease in nurse staffing below the average due to failure to follow medication administration protocol As mentioned earlier, nurses perform the last and the most important step of medication administration. Thus, having adequate time to assess each patient efficiently and following the medication rights is critical to provide safe patient care and prevent errors.
The nursing staff needs to make sure they have more indicators towards practice nurse safety. Focusing on working patient safety down to zero with grade c medication ( Cockerham ,J.,Figueroa-Altmann,A., Foxen,C., Paffett,C., Sullivan,A.,&Wellner,J.,2014). The nurses making sure patient safety is first when administrating medication .The hospital would like to limit risk and increase reliability when taking care of patients. The purposed of this peer review article is to have the quality nursing and ample amount of nursing staff.
Transitions in care, such as admission to and discharge from the hospital, put patients at risk for errors due to poor communication and inadvertent information loss (1–5). One discrepancy does not necessarily mean an error. In fact, most discrepancies are due to adapting chronic medication to the patient’s newly diagnosed condition, or because the examinations and/or interventions performed could interfere with their usual medication. Medication discrepancies, established as unexplained differences among documented drug regimens at the interfaces of care1 (admission, transfer, and discharge) are highly prevalent. Some are intended therapeutic modifications, but others are unintentional and clinically unjustified.
Various errors invent from natural process of cognitive and behavioural adaptation (Marc, 2004). Medication is an important medical order for healing process and patient care. Administration of medication is known to be one main component in nursing performance and it is an important role in patient safety. Medication errors drastically have an effect on patient safety as well as treatment cost resulting in hazards to patient and families. Administrating medication is indeed one of the most important roles of nurses as errors may inadvertent lead to serious outcome for the patient.
However, Panzer (2000) states some doctors have administered large doses of medication then necessary required, resulting in adverse reaction and consequently death. The role of the nurse can be challenging and causes
Recognizing, acknowledging, and understanding medication safety is important when administering medications. Understanding which medications are high-risk ones, being familiar with the medications being given, remembering the five most important rights when administering medications, communicating clearly, developing checking habits, and reporting the medication errors will lead to safe outcomes for the residents. However, errors do occur from a lack of experience, rushing, distractions, fatigue, doing too many things at once, not double checking, poor communication, and lack of team work. It is not only the staff that commit errors, but also the work environment that contributes to the medication error. Two examples are poor reporting systems
Fisher Week Three Response to McConnelly Yvonne, your post was extremely intriguing to me as a community health department is not an environment I have had the privilege of experiencing. Interestingly, the utilization of computerized order entry does not prevent the prescriber from ordering an incorrect medication dose or the wrong drug (Lapane, Waring, Dube’, & Schneider, 2011). Do the facility employ process to assure nurses are checking the medication in order to avoid the administration of an incorrect drug or dosage? Distractions have been linked to medication errors, consequently, and the ability to care for a solitary patient at one time clearly minimizes the distractions and interruptions that a nurse may experience during medication
As a student, one of my competency to achieved to become a professional nurse is medication administration. Since medication error can kill, there is the need to be vigilant at all time in dispensing under supervision. I have managed to disperse quite a few times but occasionally get muddled with the whole process by doing little errors and the pace at which I administer needs to be faster due to factor of time and the amount of patient lined up for medication. I have noticed some errors that needs to back up all the time. I have discussed with my mentor {and all areas of weakness have been recognized as a great opportunity for improving my experience in medication administration.
Medication Errors in Healthcare The nursing profession entails many responsibilities that range from providing emotional support to administering medications that could result in death for those receiving care. Approximately 40% of a nurse's day consists of passing medication, a duty that sets their level of liability above many other healthcare professions (McCuistion, Vuljoin-DiMaggio, Winton, Yeager, & Kee, 2018). Despite today's advances in technology and nursing education, the frequency of medication errors is still staggering. To ensure that the benefits of nursing outweigh the risks, nurses look to the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) six core competencies for guidance.
Medication use is potentially dangerous. Polypharmacy is increasing, and makes it harder to keep track of side effects and interactions and of potentially inappropriate drug combinations. “The risk of serious consequences, hospitalization, and death due to medication errors increases with patients’ age and number of medications (Scand J Prim Health Care, 2012)”. For example, the GP is supposed to monitor the patient's regular medication, but does not always do so. Lack of monitoring and keeping track of patients’ medication use is a main cause when a patient is given inappropriate drugs.
Safe medication administration is a big aspect of nursing care, because if medications aren’t given safely, then it can lead to some serious adverse effects to the patients. There are many things that can go wrong, and that’s why nurses have to be very careful when handling and giving medications. Nurses can make mistakes, and give the wrong med, give it to the wrong person, or even give too much or too little of the drug. Careful medication administration can lead to not making big mistakes that can lead to hurting others. “Medication Administration is a complex multistep process that encompasses prescribing, transcribing, dispensing, and administering drugs and monitoring patient response.”
Evidence-based resources/books are available to prevent medication error, strategies to be used to ensure correct medication administration and high alert medication require extra caution when administering can improve the student nurse’s ability to think analytically and solve medication administration problems. The Nursing student must be taught math calculation for medication administration often. Adequate practice with real problem solving can effectively reinforce these skills and provide the
Pharmacology Self Reflections Neida Blondet Frontier Nursing University Prescribing medications to patients is a part of the advanced practice registered nurse’s (ARNP) role. As I started Advanced Pharmacology a few short eleven weeks ago, I did not realize how much more there was to that “simple” task. As I reflect on my journey through Advanced Pharmacology, I will share with you a few important facts about my journey, such as how my expectations of prescribing changed, any ah ha moments I had, what I felt to be the most significant piece of knowledge I acquired and finally what I think about Florida’s approved medication schedule for ARNPs. As I began Advanced Pharmacology, my perception of prescribing medications was that it