Medication Management and New Graduate Nurses (Essay Sample)

MEDICATION MANAGEMENT AND NEW GRADUATE NURSES By [Insert name] Name of the class Name of the professor Name of the school City and state Date Medication Management and New Graduate Nurses In an ever changing healthcare system, one of the factors that tend to remain unchanged is the need and demand for highly qualified nurses. Today, learning institutions strive to train nurses who have the skills to transition to the work setting (Hofler, 2016). In some cases, experienced nurses quit nursing practice due to increasing workloads, retirement, increasing ambulatory opportunities, lack of upward mobility, and declining healthcare resources (Hofler 2012; MacKusick and Minick, 2010). When this happens, healthcare organisations must strive to leverage seasoned practitioners as mentors to train and help new graduates transition into the work settings (Hofler 2012). Unfortunately, new graduate nurses encounter several changes that impact negatively on their successful transition into the work environment. Thus, healthcare providers and policymakers need to know how to modify the healthcare landscape to help new graduates transition successfully to the practice environment (Hofler 2012). On their part, new nurses must understand some of the issues that they are likely to face while moving from the school setting to the work context. In this paper, I will analyse medication management as one of the challenges that new nurses face while transitioning into the workforce and identify strategies that they can use to make the process less cumbersome and challenging. Background of the problem I decided to explore medication management as a challenge that affects new nurses after recollecting an encounter that I witnessed during my professional experience placement (PEP). The PEP program gave me an opportunity to put my skills and knowledge into practice and gain an understanding of the nursing environment by working with registered nurses and other healthcare practitioners. To put the incident into perspective, I will use the Gibbs Reflective Model that helps nurses learn from past experiences. During placement, I had the opportunity to work with both experienced nurses and newly recruited nurses. In most cases, the newly hired nurses would work under the guidance of experienced colleagues to care for patients, take records, and administer drugs. On one occasion, a new nurse failed to check patient records and administered the wrong drugs to a patient with myocardial infarction. The registered nurses blamed the new nurse for carelessness and argued that the mistake could worsen the patient's condition. I felt sorry for the patient and also understood why the experienced nurse was mad. After evaluating the situation, I realised that medication errors could negatively impact on nursing practice and the health and wellbeing of patients. Thus, caregivers must always strive to follow medication regimen and administer the right drugs to patients. From that moment, I made a commitment always to work in close collaboration with experienced nurses while caring for patients and ask questions whenever in doubt. Medication Management Medication management refers to the proper, safe, and efficient use of medicine to ensure that patients get maximum benefits and experience minimal harm (The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, 2016). Medication can have a significant positive impact on the health and wellbeing of patients, nurses, and other caregivers when administered in the right and efficient manner (Costa, 2011; Hofler, 2016). Due to the benefits and potential harm associated with medicine management practices in healthcare settings, countries often come up with regulations, professional standards, and legislations to help in monitoring and regulating the use of drugs. The decision stems from the realisation that medication error is one of the most common forms of preventable adverse events in healthcare settings. Thus, caregivers ought to remain careful and keen when supplying, assessing, prescribing, administering, and reviewing the use of medicine. Furthermore, both newly hired and experienced nurses must be aware of their professional and legal accountability and responsibility concerning medication management to ensure that patients get maximum benefits from their works. My experience during placement made me realise that medication management is one of the challenges that nurses encounter during their work. Previous studies have shown that medication errors lead to adverse events and several preventable deaths in healthcare settings (Roughead, Semple and Rosenfeld, 2013). In Australia, errors occur in 5 to 8 percent of drug administrations in hospital settings (Roughead, Semple and Rosenfeld, 2013). In such cases, patients are likely to experience adverse health outcomes such as worsening of symptoms and even death. Costa (2011) posits that some new nurses lack the right skills and experience to reduce medication errors in hospital settings. In most instances, the errors occur during the transition of care such as discharge and transfer from one ward to the other. In the long run, it increases the rate of admission, worsens the patient's condition, and cause death in extreme cases. Since nurses tend to spend more time with patients than any other medical practitioners, they have a greater responsibility in reducing such mistakes. Unfortunately, new nurses may not contribute to the initiatives especially when they are not ready for the work settings. When new nurses like the one I worked with during PEP make medication errors, they not only impact negatively on the health and wellbeing of patients but also contravene various regulatory frameworks that guide nursing practices. As regulated health practitioners, nurses in Australia are accountable to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA). Thus, they must work towards practising in agreement with the NMBA Registered nurses standards for practice. Standard 6 of the NMBA Registered nurses standards calls on nurses to provide appropriate, responsive, and safe quality services to patients. Furthermore, registered nurses can delegate aspects of practice and care to enrolled nurses. Even in such situations, the nurses taking charge of the delegated duties ought to strive to provide safe and appropriate care. Furthermore, they must remain accountable to patients and assume responsibility for their decisions, behaviours, and actions. New nurses must work hard to ensure that they carry out assigned duties in the right and safe manner. Unfortunately, I have come to realise that complying with this standards when it comes to medication management remains a major challenge for new nurses. Despite all the help and standardised processes that support efficient and safe medication practices, some new nurses still make mistakes when carrying out delegated duties. In my opinion, such errors are as a result of lack of experience, disruptions, and anxiety that accompany the transition process. Improving Medication Management Since every nursing student hopes to become a successful practitioner in future, they must strive to enhance their medication management capabilities as they transition to work settings. New nurses should know that they are responsible and accountable for autonomous and safe practice in dynamic healthcare systems. Thus, it is upon them to learn from past mistakes, acquire new knowledge, and work with other healthcare practitioners to promote the health and wellbeing of patients. Furthermore, healthcare organisations should help such nurses gain skills and knowledge that they need to move from the academic setting to the work environment efficiently. Reflecting back on the medication error that I witnessed dur...