A Brief Note On Recognizing And Understanding Medication Safety

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

Staff work with the same residents day after day, and the CMs know what the residents take for medications every day. An intervention for preventing the medication error from happing again is implementing a better system in which the medications are administered. First, the medication administration record (MAR), could become computerized. This way it makes it difficult for the CM to sign off all the medications at once for the residents when setting them up. This would alert the nurse that all the residents were getting their medication at the same time, which is impossible. Secondly, the way the resident receives his medications should consist of the CM stating what each of the medications are so the resident is aware what he is taking. By implementing this, the CM can do the final check of administering the medications. If the medications themselves could be barcoded and scanned in before popping the medication in the medication cup, this would help the CM double check the five rights as well. A bar-code electronic medical administration record (eMAR) technology associates several technologies into the medication administration process to provide the correct medication, dose, time, route, and patient. This technology will provide an additional check and implement safety (Poon et al., 2010). If the wrong medication is

Medication errors can be very dangerous for the ones taking the wrong medicines or doses; therefore, safety measures must be in place. Administering them must be done with an understanding and focus. One missed check could have a staff member giving a resident the wrong set of pills. Some interventions to help prevent the medication error from occurring is to first report errors. When errors are reported, the main cause is to try and never let the error occur again. Secondly, communicating with co-workers that the evening shift is under staffed. Implementing that each shift start with a team huddle to provide effective communication and team building. The company at the assisted living facility should do the following: update to electronic medication administration records (eMARs), obtain scanning devices for medications, or create a new system in which the medication is administered to the client at the bedside. Lastly, the CM should start the shift by planning the evening and prioritizing most important duties that need to be completed by the end of the shift. Planning is extremely important and can help a person under a lot of stress stay calm and organized. Administering medications takes a responsible person. As the medication administrator, staff are trusted by the residents. If the assisted living facility implements the safety measures outlined