Patient Safety

Medication administration is not just giving medicine to a patient; it also involves observation of how the patient responds to the drug after administration. As a nurse or health professional we’re trained to know medication effects. Knowing how medication move through the body and what effects the medication has or what adverse effects may occur is most important when preventing

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how safety in the nursing profession affects the nursing education, nursing practice, and nursing research. Safety in the nursing profession means to minimize the risk of harm to patients and providers through both system effectiveness and individual performances (QSEN, 2014). Patient safety is a very important aspect in the profession of nursing. It is the nurse’s job to keep up to date with their patients and to make sure that protocol is being followed at all times. To maintain this strategy, the nurse must show proper knowledge of a nurse, skills of a nurse, and also a professional attitude.

Nurses have a critical role in administering medications to the patients by following the six rights of drug administration. These six rights are: Right medication, Right route, Right time, Right patient, Right dosage, and Right documentation. If any of these one rights is not used properly, it can cause medication error. Causes of medication errors are

Medication errors are one of the leading causes within a patient care setting thatcan jeopardize the client’s safety, and can even potentially be fatal. The six patient rights,right dose, time, route, medication, patient and documentation, all help prevent errors andpromote patient safety. The nurse needs to check off each patient right in order tosuccessfully pass medications. One of the leading causes for missing one of these patientrights is interruptions in the process of medication administration prep, or when activelygiving the medication to the patient. This paper will discuss why interruptions duringmedication administration can cause errors, and interventions the nurse can do to avoidputting the patient in

As a leader in the workplace, medication errors mostly occur when the workplace is understaffed with a patient load of full nursing cares that require more attention and care than patients who are independent. Due to being understaffed with a patient load of 13 to 2 nurses, medication errors occur more often as nurses are being rushed to finish all cares within their work timeframe. To decrease medication errors it is important to implement more staff during medication rounds, thus giving nurses additional time to concentrate and assure that the correct medication and dose is being given to the right patient ( ). The 6 medication rights are important to implement into every workplace as it decreases the chances of administrating medication to the wrong patients ( ). The medication right include; ______________________________________________________________ ( ). Medication errors have important implications for patient safety and in improving clinical practice errors to prevent any adverse events (

medication error is and how it can have an impact on the nursing team or organizations was

Simple to intricate tasks are performed simultaneously, which involves significant attention and critical thinking (Williams, King, Thompson, & Champagne, 2014). Interruptions or distraction during medication preparation and administration may lead to human error and affect patient outcomes (Williams et al.). System deficits are often the root cause for errors and interruptions during medication preparations (Anthony, Wiencek, Bauer, Daly, & Anthony, 2010). It has been found 17% of the nurses’ time is spent on administrating medication; and in one single shift, each nurse has an average of 30 interruptions (Anthony et al.). Examples of interruptions are: prescribed medications not available, patient activities and needs during time of medication administration, and interruptions from phone calls or colleagues (Stamp & Willis, 2009). As interruptions play a significant factor in regarding patient safety, there have been many strategies and initiatives to reduce the number of interruptions nurses experience during preparation and administration of medications (Stamp & Willis). This rapid review will discuss interruptions, the various strategies and initiatives, and limitations to reduce interruptions related to medication errors in nursing

The earlier in a nursing student schooling they are aware of the impact medication errors can have on patients the more of an impact the education will have. One of the basic tenants of safe medication administration is the three checks and the five rights. Three checks of medication labeling should be performed when reaching for the medication, when retrieving from the medication dispersal unit and before giving the medication to the patient. The five rights of medication: right medication, right patient, right dosage, right route and right time are also to be performed before each distribution of medication to a patient. (Taylor, Lillis, Lynn, & LeMone, 2015). This simple intervention can help to eliminate most potential medication error problems. But while learning such strategies is essential to helping build a culture of safety within a health care facility nothing compares to hands on experience. Getting nursing students’ clinical medication administration experience early in their education can build confidence and instill the qualities needed to be a safe

As defined by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA, 2015), a medication error is “any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or harm to a patient.” In order to prevent harm by medications, nurses and nursing students alike are required to adhere to the “seven patient rights,” which help eliminate any possible errors in the medication administration process. These seven rights include: right patient, right drug, right dose, right route, right time, right action and right documentation. However, many medication errors continue to occur because one or more of these rights is either violated, or omitted altogether. Research done by Polifroni, et al. (2003), shows that the most common errors in medication administration are those involving the time of administration and the dosage amount. These errors are often a direct result of the nurse’s increasingly chaotic practicing environment. Increasing nursing shortages create a larger patient load for each nurse, making is easier for the nurse to get distracted and inadvertently miss the dose,

Another causative issue to medication error was poor staff knowledge about medications. 46% (n=32) of registered nurses and 37% (n=15) of student nurses stated that not having enough knowledge about medications increases the risk for creating an error. It is essential for the person passing meds to identify potential side effects, the drug type, contraindication and it interactions to reduce the patient may encounter for taking the medication. The qualitative review of registered nurses reinforced this issue.

Edwards and Axe (2015), found that nurses not only need to understand the issues related to the administration of drugs given but also aware of the full medication journey. The journey starts with the doctor writing the prescription, pharmacist looking over the medication and putting the order together, then nurses double-checking before giving it to their patient. Drug errors can occur at any point, nurses need to be on their toes at all times while giving medication. Drug errors can include the wrong quantity being prescribed, the drug being intended for another patient, poor labeling and storage, and out of date drugs NPSA, (2007). Jones and Treiber (2010) found that illegible or unclear physician handwriting and staff not following the five rights had the highest percentage of why drug errors occur.

Many medication errors occur as a result of lack of adequate knowledge and skills in medication error. Nurses play a vital role in safe medication administration. Nurses should have adequate skill and knowledge to prevent medication error. Yearly competence test in medication administration and periodic education and training is vital to improve the knowledge and skills. Prescription errors are the common cause of medication error. Physicians should take full advantage of computerized physician order entry system (CPOE) to improve the medication safety. Verbal and written orders should replace with CPOE. Distraction can cause medication error and avoiding unnecessary distraction during medication administration can prevent a number of

As previously mentioned, the nurses responsible for the medication errors experience a tremendous amount of professional and personal guilt. The entire process of administration of medications involves multiple factors and many members of the health care team. Research by Leufer and Cleary-Holdforth (2013) supports that medication errors can largely be linked to healthcare professionals and the systems of health care within which they operate. With this being said, nurses ultimately have the final say and are the healthcare professionals from prescribing to administration of

Patient safety is a growing concern among healthcare professionals and the public (Goh, Chan, & Kuziemsky, 2013). As professional nurses, it is our duty to demonstrate improved safety for our patients, visitors and guests to the facilities in which we serve. It is also our duty to prevent adverse events and to view unfortunate incidents as learning opportunities to achieve a holistic view of patient care. By improving patient safety, we accept responsibility for more positive patient outcomes and a successful hospital stay. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the importance of data evaluation and interpretation to improve patient quality and safety.

The administration of medication can be associated with a significant risk with it is recognized as a central feature of the nursing role. It should continue in order to avoid a possible medical malpractice continuous care. Nursing staff have a unique role usually given to patients to manage their medication and responsibilities, then they can report these identified medication errors. Some of the most distinguishable events can be related to errors in professional practice, prescribing, dispensing, distribution, and education or monitoring. Since medication errors can arise at any state of the administration process, it is essential for nursing staff to be attentive of the most commonly encountered errors. For the most part, the common of the perceptible aspects related with medication errors are due to minimal awareness about hospital policies, inappropriate implementation or latent conditions (Farinde, n.d).