Analysis of Medication Errors. (Essay Sample)

Analysis of Medication Errors. Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Course Name Professor’s Name Due Date Analysis of Medication Errors. Over the last few years, there has been a significant advancement in medicine, with many new drugs being produced and cleared for clinical efficacy and safety. These advancements have led to improved patient health outcomes and improved quality of care. However, the rates of deaths due to medication errors have also been on the rise. These errors can occur at any level, at any point when managing the patient, including dispensing, prescription, decoding, and administration of the drugs. The National Coordinating Council for Medication Errors defines medication errors as “any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the healthcare professional, patient, or consumer,” (Rodziewicz, Houseman, & Hipskind, 2018). The definition includes omission of medication doses, not only commission errors. Medication errors are attributed to poor communication. A significant percentage of medication errors are done committed by the patients. Medication errors and their significance are of great importance to me being a critical care nurse. Medication errors are not uncommon in the nursing profession. Cases where nurses confused patients and administered wrong medications to a patient, gave incorrect dosages, or omitted vital drugs to a patient, are common (Rodziewicz et al., 2018). Sometimes, the patient administers wrong drugs or wrong dosages to self, often due to misinformation. Besides communication failures, medical students are also prone to committing medication errors. A recent research study by Senders (2018) established that medication errors account for more than 9% of deaths in the U.S. each year. Recently in the Cardiovascular OR, a patient presented with hypokalemia secondary to chronic alcoholism. He was put on conventional management with oral potassium supplements. Twenty-four hours later, he was admitted to the ICU due to cardiac arrest secondary to hyperkalemia, most probably due to an overdose of potassium. Luckily for him, he was successfully managed and is currently under observation in the ICU for other possible complications and management. The incident opened my eyes to not only focus on iatrogenic medication errors but also errors that stem from the patient, majorly due to misinformation. This incident and many others occur, yet they could be prevented adequately. These errors could be prevented by adequate education and safety training of the medical staff and the patients and packaging improvements. In my research in preventing medication errors, I evaluated three articles that describe the causes of medication errors and possible interventions in reducing medication errors. Proposed Solutions To Medication Errors From Annotated Bibliographies. Latimer, S., Hewitt, J., Stanbrough, R., & McAndrew, R. (2017). Reducing medication errors: Teaching strategies that increase nursing students' awareness of medication errors and their prevention. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2017.02.004. As seen earlier, a significant percentage of medication errors result from errors committed by students. Latimer et al. (20170 note that students do not receive adequate training regarding medication errors. Most students start attending clinical rotations as early as their first year. Thus, most of these students do not have a good understanding of medications, dosages, routes, and the rights of medication. It is difficult to question medications that they perceive are overdoses due to their limited knowledge and fear of confronting their seniors. Registered nurses and nurse practitioners can easily detect problems in prescriptions and air their concerns, unlike the students. However, with adequate awareness and training, students shall avoid medication errors through consulting the registered nurses and refraining from carrying out medication procedures in situations where they do not have a good understanding. From the article, trained students exhibit more medication errors awareness and take medications with caution. Increased awareness significantly reduces medication errors. Hilda, H., Setiadi, R., Wahyuni, E. P., Supriadi, S., Loriana, R., Rasmun, R., & Nurachmah, E. (2018). Strengthening Patients Safety Culture through the Implementation of SBAR Communication Method. Health Notions, 2(8), 856-861. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33846/hn.v2i8.262. SBAR communication method is the intervention of choice. As noted earlier, virtually all medication errors stem from communication failure. Communication failure is a broad area that includes poorly written notes, lack of documentation, misreading words, to misinterpreting conformation. Communication from one nurse to another/handing over is prone to a communication failure. The article claims that “Over 75% of medication errors are caused by communication failure” (Hilda et al., 2018). The SBAR communication method (Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation) is integral in giving patients real-time details regarding their past and current states. According to the article, poor handing over results in medication errors, inaccurate patient plans, delays in inter-ward transfers, increased length of hospital stay, and repeated tests. SBAR aims at building a culture of patient safety through good communication. Hilda and colleagues evaluated the effects of implementing the SBAR communication method on patient safety. The cross-sectional study was analytical in nature, involving 452 nurses in A.W. Sjahranie Hospital. SBAR implementation and patient safety culture were the variables assessed. From the study, those nurses who implemented the SBAR handing over method had a higher incidence of patient safety culture and vice versa. The study also identified that communication failure can also be attributed to fatigue, stress, education, ethnic differences, and cultural backgrounds. These are the significant factors contributing to communication failure where the SBAR communication method was adequately implemented. Implementing the SBAR method shall be instrumental in improving medication errors. SBAR tool provides past and current history and of importance to medication errors, past and current medications. Patient history of illness and allergies is also important to avoid drug interactions and medications that exacerbate symptoms of an illness. The report would also clearly show the dosages and indications of drugs and would thus rule out possible misinformation or misinterpretation of written information. The handover period also gives room to the nurses to discuss the patient's condition and give remedies. Implementing the SBAR communication method all the time when communicating a patient's information can strengthen patient safety (Hilda et al., 2018). Specifically, I can help eliminate medication and other medical errors. The method is, however, cumbersome. Despite its widespread importance, it is possible to omit some information. The method is also time-demanding and time-consuming, an asset that is hardly available in the medical field. The effect of this is that it is hardly done adequately, and work done in a hurry would expose the patient to medication errors. Trakulsunti, Y., Antony, J., Ghadge, A., & Gupta, S. (2020). Reducing medication errors using LSS Methodology: A systematic literature review and critical findings. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 31(5-6), 550-568.https://doi.org/10.1080/14783363.2018.1434771 This article does a keen analysis through literature review on the effectiveness of Lean, Six Sigma, and Lean Six Sigma (LSS) intervention in managing medication errors. The article reviews over 24 journals that expound on the state of medication errors in more than 20 countries. The article claims that medication errors are one of the leading causes of patient morbidity and mortality and, if not addressed adequately, shall continue to cause more harm and kill more patients. The most used continuous improvem...