Enhancing Quality and Safety in Medication Administration
Healthcare organizations and personnel seek to establish safety and quality measures for patients. However, safeguarding patient safety can be difficult due to the healthcare system’s complexity. Nurses make up most of the healthcare personnel. Hence, they are responsible for maintaining patient safety. Medication administration errors (MAEs) are a significant safety and quality issue in the healthcare industry. This paper discusses MAEs, the contributing factors, evidence-based interventions, and the role of nurses and other stakeholders in improving safety and quality during medication administration.
Factors that Contribute to Medication Administration Errors
Medicine administration errors are any preventable mistakes that can occur during prescribing, dispensing, and administration, as well as medication storage and management errors. There are various types of MAEs, including using the wrong route of administration, administering the incorrect dose, giving drugs to the wrong patient, or taking medicine at the wrong time. These mistakes can have catastrophic implications, including worsened patient health outcomes or death (Wondmieneh et al., 2020). It is critical to take precautions to limit the risk of drug delivery mistakes.
Various factors, including inadequate communication between healthcare providers and patients, poor record-keeping and documentation, lack of information about pharmaceuticals, poor labeling and packaging of medications, unclear or incomplete prescription orders, and improper medication storage and handling, can cause medication administration mistakes. Poor communication between the nurses and doctors on the healthcare team frequently results in medication errors (Garcia et al., 2019). Hasty shift changes, unclear verbal or written instructions, incorrect acronyms, or a lack of attention to detail can all contribute to poor communication. Mistakes can also be made owing to a lack of knowledge regarding the drug being administered. This might be due to a lack of training, obsolete information, or a lack of experience with the medication. Inadequate or incorrect labeling, including wrong dosing instructions, obsolete information, or incorrect patient data, can cause confusion and errors. Other risk factors include inadequate supervision, staff burnout, and poorly designed drug delivery systems (Garcia et al., 2019).
Evidence-Based Practices of Preventing Medication Errors
Evidence-based and best-practice methods to improve patient safety can aid in preventing drug administration mistakes and thus reduce healthcare expenses. Implementing an electronic prescription system, for example, helps decrease pharmaceutical mistakes by assuring accuracy in transcribing drug orders. Electronic prescription systems can also save money by expediting the ordering process and eliminating the need for human checks and double-checking (Rodziewicz & Hipskind, 2020). Automated dispensing systems can also reduce medication by alerting the nurse when an incorrect pharmaceutical order is made. Furthermore, barcode scanning to guarantee that prescriptions are given to the proper patient is another best practice solution. By reducing the need for human record keeping, barcode scanning technology can also decrease expenses. Electronic medical records can also assist in preventing drug mistakes by allowing doctors to analyze patient data before making prescription decisions (Dirik et al., 2019).
Role of Nurses in Preventing Medication Errors
Nurses play a critical role in medication administration in healthcare settings. They are crucial in preventing medication errors and upholding patient safety. Nurses can assist in coordinating treatment to improve patient safety and minimize healthcare costs by ensuring that all medical personnel engaged in the patient’s care are informed of the drugs the patient is taking. This involves being aware of any allergies or hazardous responses to drugs that the patient may have (Tariq & Scherbak, 2022). Furthermore, nurses can ensure that the drugs recommended or delivered are cost-effective and appropriate for the patient’s condition. Nurses can educate patients on safe medication usage and check for adverse effects and drug interactions. Educating patients involves teaching them how to read labels, follow directions, and safely store medication. Also, by double-checking drugs before administration, nurses can avoid medication mistakes (Koyama et al., 2019). By carefully assessing patient information, nurses can discover possible medication interactions, allergies, and other contraindications. This decreases the possibility of an unpleasant response and helps to avoid excessive expenditures caused by medical errors (Escrivá Gracia et a
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