The Nurse's Role In Medication Safety Summary

The Nurse’s Role in Medication Safety Summary Most people commit errors at some point in their life, but as nurses it is our responsibility to do everything within our power to prevent errors when managing the care of a patient. Medication errors are one of the mistakes that commonly occur in hospitals, unfortunately they are not always managed correctly. The nurse must verify the proper medication, patient, dose, time, and route prior to administration (Durham, 2015, p. 1). Durham mentioned many ways that can help prevent errors when administering a medication which I discuss later in the summary. There are many different ways medication errors can occur. The most common errors are due to human factors. The human factors that contribute
to medication errors are deficit of knowledge about the medication, not reporting errors, and perceptual factors. “Explanations for under reporting include a lack of awareness that a medication error has occurred, unfamiliarity with medication, administration error reporting process, fear of legal ramifications, and fear of being perceived as incompetent” (Durham, 2015, p. 2). It is of great importance to report any error and learn from those mistakes to prevent future harm to the patient or even face legal consequences due to negligence. It is a major responsibility of the nurse to asses any potential risks to the patients. While it is almost impossible to remember all the pertinent information about all medications, technology can help to acquire the knowledge of any unfamiliar medication at the touch of a button. Technology has brought great improvements to the administration of medication and to the knowledge of nurses. Many hospitals now have systems in place that help obtain information about drugs being administer.
Sometimes errors also occur due to perception, which is known as confirmation bias (Durham, 2015, p. 3). This occurs when the name of the medication sounds or looks alike which plays a trick on the mind about what one sees. If the symptoms and the target of the medication don’t match one can never check the patient’s orders too many times. Mistakes also occur when calculating the appropriate dose. It is important to have another person verify the calculations especially if math is not the nurse’s forte. Miscommunication is also a factor in medication errors. Any unclear task should be addressed to prevent potential errors. It is the responsibility of the nurse to have a complete understanding of the medications that are about to be administered. A nurse is supposed to clarify any questions the patient may have about the medication. According to Durham (2015), “nurses can ensure a safer environment for the medication preparation and administration, by first examining their work environment and reflect on the current practice of medication administration” (p. 4). One should always make sure there are no distractions while preparing for administration of medications. Focusing on the task at hand could save many lives, and one small distraction could be the most regrettable mistake.