Reducing Medication Errors

Roughly over 1.5 million people are injured annually in the United States from medication errors. It is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. According to the National Counsel for medication error Reporting and prevention defines medication error as any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medications in the control of the health professional, patient or consumers. Medication errors are surprising common and costly in all nation. Medications administration is a complex multistep process that encompasses prescribing, transcribing, dispensing, administering and monitoring patient’s response. An error can occur at any step in this process however many errors
Health care organization should ensure that all medications are provided in clear labeled unit dose package institutional use because packaging for many drugs looks alike. Look-alike or sound alike medications product can be confused because their names look alike or sound alike. From 2003 to 2006 25,530 such errors were reported to the Medication Error Reporting Program. The Joint Commission require healthcare institution to identify look alike and sound alike drugs each year and have a process in place to help ensure related errors don’t occur (Anderson & Townsend
It begins with effective communication to all participants. Reducing errors saves millions of lives, billions of dollars and prevent many pain and suffering. All staffs should be vigilance and be sure to use the safety practice already in place in your facilities. Eliminate distractions while preparing and administering medications.

References

Anderson, P., & Townsend, T., (2013) Medication Errors: Don’t let them happen to you. The American Nurse Today vol; 5(3): pp. 23-28.
Brennan, T. A., (2006). The Institute of Medication Report on errors. New English Journal Medicine vol: 342 pp. 1123-1125
Duncan, D., & Mayo, A. M.(2004). Nurse Perception of Medication Errors: What we need to know for patient safety. Journal Nurse Care Vol. 19. (3) pp. 209-217.
Joshi, S.M., Nash, D. B., Ranson, S.B. (2006) The healthcare Quality book. Washington, DC health Adminstration press.
Institute Of Medicine. (1999). To err is Human: building a safer health system. Washington, DC: National Academic Press.
Patel, A., (2009) Tragic Medication Errors in Accidental Abortion and Premature