Reducing Medication Errors in Healthcare: Strategies and Solutions, Lecture notes of Accounting

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NHS-FPX

Analyzing a Current Health Care Problem or Issue Capella University NHS-FPX4000: Developing a Health Care Perspective

Analyzing a Current Health Care Problem or Issue As previously discussed in Assessment 2, medication errors are an issue in health care. Medication errors are "A preventable adverse effect of a patient taking the wrong medication or dosage, whether or not it is evident or harmful to the patient (Assessment Topic Areas, n.d.). These mistakes can cause injury to the patient and may lead to death. Examples of different medication errors include nurses giving medication at the wrong time, administering the wrong medication, providing the incorrect dose of medicine, not accurately assessing the patient before or after administration, etc. Ensuring nurses are professionally trained and allotting time to pass medications with minimum interactions can reduce or eliminate medication errors. Elements of the problem/issue Medication errors are more common when the nurse is interrupted during administration. These interruptions could be due to phone calls, call bells, doctors, patient family members, etc. According to the research, medication errors are mostly due to knowledge deficit, administering medication at the wrong time, and dosing errors (Nguyen et al., 2010). Nurses also struggle with associating the right education, right evaluation, and right documentation when administering medications (Tsegaye et al., 2020). Other studies show that errors are more common depending upon the type of drug administered and the administration route (Escrivá Gracia et al., 2020). According to Gracia, nurses in critical care units are more likely to have an error when administering medication via the nasogastric route. According to Bucknall, dealing with uncertainty, facility, framing, and filtering information, managing the environment and interruptions, and patient knowledge and involvement all contribute to medication errors (Bucknall et al., 2019). Dealing with uncertainty is explained as the need to discuss patient status with doctors regarding medication adjustments.

Facilitating, framing, and filtering information is broken down as advocating for the patient to the multidisciplinary team, another nurse, or explaining information to the patient. Distractions and high workload are situations discussed under managing the environment and interruptions. Patient knowledge and involvement is the last theme discussed and is explained in subcategories as variability and capability of patient, holding nurses responsible and workload pressure preventing patient-centered care (Bucknall et al., 2019). These issues can all lead to medication errors. Analysis Prevention of medication errors is essential in patient safety. As a registered nurse, preventing medication errors are crucial to ensure I do not harm any patients. My goal is to heal the patient and aid in a speedy recovery process when providing patient care. As a patient, this issue is important because your life is at risk with every error. Even minor mistakes can cause life-threatening injuries to the patient. Health care changes daily, and nurses are not always up to date with changes as quickly as they should. Nurses deal with extreme work environments that are not continuously safe. In many settings, nurses are short-staffed and overworked. These conditions lead to stressful work environments and eventually to medication errors. All patients are at risk for experiencing medication errors. The geriatric population's dangers are mostly cognitive impairments and knowledge deficits. Patients who take many prescriptions are at high risk for errors. When patients have to gather multiple medications, they are at an increased chance of administering the wrong dose. Knowledge deficits from lack of patient education lead to errors. Patient education is critical for all patients. This education should include telling the patient the medication use, dosage, route, assessments needed, side effects, and other useful information.

Considering Options Medication errors are significantly reduced with the right strategy. Blocking out time in the morning and evening when most medications are administered would be most beneficial for lowering distractions. Having charge nurses and aids be responsible for patient care during these hour windows will reduce interruptions. Having additional aids available to complete vital checks needed for patient evaluation and report results before the nurse administers medications would be helpful. This change would allow the nurse extra time to focus on passing medications (Nguyen et al., 2010). Conditions are optimal when all health care staff work collaboratively as a team. Medication administration safety training would aid in reducing medication errors. Hospitals can develop strategies to promote organization during medication administration rounds. Creating a system where the patient, nurse, and multidisciplinary team can communicate at a scheduled time would decrease the patient and nurse knowledge deficit. Knowledge deficits increase medication errors. When there is a deficit, the nurse has to take additional time while passing medication to find the answers she needs from other nurses, pharmacists, or doctors. Since it is taking extra time to gather information before administration, this can lead to administering medications at the wrong time. Solution Nurses are responsible for medication administration, patient assessments, patient care, patient advocacy, patient documentation, and many more tasks throughout the day. Completing all these tasks by the end of the shift can be daunting. Many times nurses are rushed to finish tasks as quickly as possible. Focus is lost, and patient safety is no longer a top priority when nurses are overworked or understaffed. These circumstances cause an increase in medication

errors. Medication administration block out times can help decrease the nurse's risk of having a mediation error. Allowing the nurse to focus solely on medication administration reduces distractions, provides time for patient education, and most importantly, allows the nurse time to focus on all of the "rights" to complete prior, during, and after administering medication (Escrivá Gracia et al., 2020). Allotting for the appropriate staff during medication pass times would be helpful. The solution would lead to fewer medication errors; however, staffing costs would increase. Implementation The use of a medication block out time can pose some ethical implications. The nurse should have one hour in the morning and evening allocated for medication administration without distractions daily. Having the nurse focus solely on medication administration issues could present patient safety issues due to staffing. However, to prevent patient safety concerns, health care organizations should plan to staff accordingly during medication pass times in the morning and evening. With additional staff available for patient care, patient safety issues decrease. Conclusion Prevention of medication errors is a joint effort among healthcare organizations, multidisciplinary teams, nurses, patients, and staff. Nurses need to undergo training on proper organization, safety concerns, ten rights of administration, etc., throughout the year. Education is vital to decrease the knowledge deficit. Block out times have been proven to be successful in reducing medication errors. Allowing staff to focus on completing medication administration without distractions benefits the nurse and the patient. In health care, it is essential to remain up

to date on training and to make necessary adjustments to improve patient care and safety. Health care organizations should promote change to improve patient care quality. References Assessment topic areas. (n.d.). Capella University. Retrieved February 10, 2021, from https://media.capella.edu/CourseMedia/NHS-FP4000/Assessmenttopicareas/wrapper.asp Bucknall, T., Fossum, M., Hutchinson, A. M., Botti, M., Considine, J., Dunning, T., Hughes, L., Weir‐Phyland, J., Digby, R., & Manias, E. (2019). Nurses’ decision‐making, practices and perceptions of patient involvement in medication administration in an acute hospital setting. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 75(6), 1316–1327. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan. Escrivá Gracia, J., Aparisi Sanz, Á., Brage Serrano, R., & Fernández Garrido, J. (2020). Medication errors and risk areas in a critical care unit. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 77(1), 286–

295. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan. Nguyen, E. E., Connolly, P. M., & Wong, V. (2010). Medication safety initiative in reducing medication errors. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 25(3), 224–230. https://doi.org/10.1097/ncq.0b013e3181ce3ae Tsegaye, D., Alem, G., Tessema, Z., & Alebachew, W. (2020). Medication administration errors and associated factors among nurses. International Journal of General Medicine, Volume 13, 1621–1632. https://doi.org/10.2147/ijgm.s