Medication Error and its Prevention

Medication error is any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or harm to a patient (FDA, 2009). Being one of the most common medical errors, medication errors are not a subject to take without due consideration. In 2006, the National Academies stated “Studies indicate that 400,000 preventable drug-related injuries occur each year in hospitals. Another 800,000 occur in long-term care settings, and roughly 530,000 occur just among Medicare recipients in outpatient clinics”. In the same document, National Academies informs the readers these numbers may be an understatement due to insufficient data.
While in nursing school, I have realized the importance of dosage calculations, and hospital protocol. Most rationales to these rules are for the safety of the clients, which is why one must learn partially in theory and the rest through practice and repetition. Research is done in evidence based practice which provides confirmation to the ways procedures are carried out. As a nurse we should never get careless or sloppy with the work we do to assist our clients to health. The patients we care for are of great importance and responsibly to us as the caretaker. With this in mind, I would like to show what carelessness and oversight can result in.
Arsula Samson was an 80 year old mother of four. She developed pneumonia and checked in to Good Hope Hospital, Birmingham to be treated in the intensive care unit. While being treated for low serum potassium levels her nurse Mrs. Lisa Sparrow, RN entered an incorrect time frame on the infusion pump giving her a fatal amount of potassium chloride in one hour instead of over five hours. I will walk through this incident and illustrate the areas in which checkpoints that are set up for nurses should have been utilized to avoid this unfortunate event.
Pneumonia is an inflammation of the lung. The cause of the disorder is all dependent on the type of microorganisms found in the lungs and how the