Medication Error Essay

responsibility. When a medication error occurs, ethical issues such as a loss of human dignity, fidelity and beneficence also occur, which leads to patient dissatisfaction and mistrust.
Social issues often interplay with any sort of medical error as well. Medication errors often result in damaged social relations such as the nurse-patient relationship and the healthcare system’s image. When nurses make a medication error they are obligated to report their mistake to the charge nurse, the patient and the patient’s family, regardless of the circumstance. In some cases, the nurse may have to report that their actions lead to serious harm or even the death of a patient. Cousins, Gerrett and Warner (2012) conducted a national five-year study in England and Wales to see how many medication errors were reported and the percentage of
According to their research, 526,186 incidents occurred, with 16% of the incidents causing patient harm and 0.95% resulting in serious harm or death (Cousins et al. 2012). A U.S. study by the Institute of Medicine found that medication errors cause harm to approximately 1.5 million people and kill several thousand each year in the U.S. (Diamond, 2006). While not Canadian statistics, these values are a demonstration of the seriousness of drug errors. Medication errors can lead the patient and their family to become increasingly worried about the safety of their loved ones and about the quality of care they are receiving (Kim & Bates, 2012). The adverse effects of the drug could also result in a prolonged hospital visit, leading to further isolation from the patient’s normal routine and social life. In addition, the nurse who administered the medication would also face several social issues. Often a nurse who makes a medication error faces increased scrutiny from their peers; if the mistake is severe enough the nurse could face disciplinary action such as a suspension of their nursing license. This