Anderson, R. (2002) Responsibilities of prescribing. In Humphries, J.L. Green, J. (2002) Nurse Preacribing 2nd Ed McMillan Press…
Care should be taken at all times when administrating medication as it could be given to the wrong person which could lead to them suffering, or something as simple as the wrong dose. This type of mistake can have a devastating result for example in 2005 2 nurses miscalculated the dose of a drug needed to slow down a baby boys heart rate. He was given 10x the dose and he died.…
The nurses were asked to breach 3 rules, they did not know the doctor nor receive written authority to administer the drug, and the 20mg strength was twice the maximum dosage on the bottle. 21 out of 22 nurses were willing to administer the drug. (www.simplypsychology.org) This shows that the majority are reluctant to question authority even if they have doubts. With this knowledge, laws and legislations have been put in place. Nurses have a duty to follow the code of conduct which states ‘You must act without delay if you believe that you, a colleague or anyone else may be putting someone at risk’ (www.nmc-uk.org) This involves speaking up when you believe a staff member is putting a patient at risk regardless of…
Some factors that can influence medication administration include patient acuity, staffing levels, shift length, and workloads. Nurses need to adhere to the “seven rights” when preparing and dispensing medications. Furthermore, nurses should feel compelled to use an evidence-based approach in collecting data to make decisions in their practice considering human lives at risk (Marquis & Huston, 2017). Propose two solutions the nurse manager could consider.…
Errors made while administering medications are one of the most common patient safety, health care errors reported. It is estimated that 7,000 hospitals deaths yearly are attributed to medication administration errors, and each error can cost a health care organization over $8000 per occurrence. (Anderson & Townsend, 2015. p.18). Nurses spend a significant amount of time managing, preparing, and administering medications. Nurses can spend up to forty percent of their day, involved in tasks that center around medication administration (Bourbonnais & Caswell, 2014). Over the past few years, there has been an incredible amount of new technology introduced in health care that affect medication administration. Electronic health records, computerized order entry, smart pumps, and bar-code medication charting all add complexity to the task of medication administration. Bar-code medication administration (BCMA) is one safety measure that can be implemented that can reduce medication administration safety errors and adverse…
As mentioned above, different strategies have been implemented to prevent the unfavorable effects of medical errors, particularly mistakes in medication administration. Because of medication errors, the patients’ mortality went up, which costs the U.S. healthcare systems billions of dollars yearly. It was also reported that every year, there are approximately 450 000 unfavorable medication circumstances of which 25 percent could have been prevented, that caused an injury to the patient. Therefore, other than the CDSS/CPOE implementation, the following systems were being used to aid in the improvement of the medication administration efficiency: intravenous infusion pumps with preprogrammed drug information, barcode-assisted medication administration…
Analgesics are used to relieve pain such as headaches and aches and pains. Addiction to painkillers can happen if taken over a long period of time. Also, irritation of the stomach, liver and kidney…
From the past ,Health care workers wear facing a very serious and sensitive problem while treating patient which is Medications Errors. Patient safety is characterized as opportunity from incidental harm because of medical care, or absence of medicinal blunders, or absence of abuse in administrations. Medical error is: "a failure in the therapeutic process that can possibly lead to harm to the patient"(1). It occurs when a health care provider selects improper technique in care or improperly executes an proper strategy of care. Medical errors can happen anywhere in the health care system: In hospitals, clinics, operations rooms, doctors' offices, nursing homes, pharmacies, and patients' homes. Errors can happen…
Medication Safety Introduction When an individual is sick or injured and visits a hospital, medication plays an important role in their recovery. Nurses play a vital role in the administration of medication in the clinical setting and surprisingly there are many errors that occur that could result in more complications or even death. On average hospitalized patients experience one medication error per day (Xu, et al, 2014, p. 286). There are many reasons as to why errors occur but there are also many different ways to prevent those errors from happening. It takes a lot of knowledge and focus to ensure errors are kept at a minimum to none.…
Each year in the United States there are just over 450,000 reported medication errors, they are the sixth leading cause of death, as well as costing the health care industry roughly 3.8 billion dollars (Flanders & Clark, 2010). QSEN’s published mission statement is to, “Address the challenge of preparing future nurses who will have the knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSAs) necessary to continuously improve the quality and safety of the healthcare systems within which they work.” (2016). QSEN has seen the devastating effects that medication errors have had on the nursing profession and are continuously publishing refined guidance and evidence based best practices to better prevent…
Errors are an innate part of human life. Execution Safe execution of medical orders is plays a significant part role of in patient care. It is also the main component of nursing performance and has a distinguished role in patient safety. Medication errors are a healthcare professional’s worst nightmare and has become one of the biggest issues devoted encountered in today’s healthcare setting. According to the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (2016), “a medication error is any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care professional, patient, or consumer. Such events may be related to professional…
Medication errors occur often in the nursing field. “A medication error is defined as a failure in the treatment process that leads to, or has the potential to lead to, harm to the patient.” [(Aronson, Medication Errors.)] Nurses make unfortunate mistakes everyday . “According to a April 7 report in Health Affairs, medical errors now cost our over-burdened health care system over $17.1 billion dollars a year; the cost of avoidable hospital readmissions adds another $13 to $18 billion dollars a year.” [(Reducing the Cost.)] It is important to reach out to a supervisor immediately so that mistakes can be fixed if possible. This article was interesting because a study was done between experienced registered nurses and bachelor degree nursing…
As a result of the literature and analysis, I learned that safe medication administration is one of the most important skills that a nurse can have. If a medication error occurs, it can have many ethical, social, economic and safety ramifications. The research presented has also allowed me to see that medication errors are more likely to occur in certain situations, such as a hectic and distracting workplace. The literature suggests that I should do the best that I can to avoid such situations by finding a quiet space and taking my time to attentively go over the required medications to prevent error.…
A nurse should always do her own double checks to make sure they have all five rights; right patient, right time, right frequency, right dose, and right route. It is possible that an order shows up that was put in wrong by the doctor or pharmacist but still checks out when scanned. A recently published journal called Nurses’ Preceptions of Causes of Medication Errors and Barriers to Reporting did a study that showed that 30.4 % of nurses though the cause of medication error were due to physician prescribing the wrong dose, or about 28% though the physician writing was illegible which caused the med error, this was out of 983 registered nurses (Ulanimo, V., O’Leary-Kelley, C., & Connolly, P., 2007), which is why a nurses double check is so critical. On the other hand, the nurse may have to override the system as well. As Lindsey Getz put it “nurses may occasionally need to rely on their clinical judgment to override what the computer says.” (Getz, 2010). The doctor could have changed the order or asked that the patient got a double dose, etc. So in a way having to override the system has made nurses feel like patient care time is being decreased because of the extra steps in having to override the system. Getz reports that “the trade-off is patient safety, and there’s no nurse out there that doesn’t value that” (Getz, 2010). Therefore,…