Nursing Medication Safety Assignment

1037 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essays on medication administration safety

Medication Safety Assignment
Medication errors are one of the most common types of medical errors that occur in the health care industry. A medication error is any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in control of the health care professional, patient or consumer (NCCMERP, 2008). Medication errors result in high financial costs for health care institutions and adversely affect the patient’s quality of life (Choo, 2010). It is the responsibility of the nurse and all members of the health care team to provide thorough medication safety handling to ensure the chances of a medication error are lowered.
A medication order is an individualized direction from the primary …show more content…

Interruptions and distractions are commonplace in the healthcare world, and a nurse must learn how to handle these situations and not let it impact the care of properly administering medications to the patient in the correct and safe manner. A complete and strategic approach allows stability and proper communication for all members of the health care team to ensure that safety is the highest priority during medication administration and handling.
References
Hanna Pirinen, Lotta Kauhanen, Riitta Danielsson-Ojala, et al., “Registered Nurses’ Experience with the Medication Administration Process”, Advances in Nursing, vol 2015, Article ID 941589, 10 pages, 2015. doi:10.1155/2015/941589

Bravo, K., Cochran, G., & Barett, R. (2016). Nursing Strategies to Increase Medication Safety in Inpatient Settings. Journal of Nursing Care Quality. no. 4:335. Supplemental Index, EBSCOhost

Choo, J., Hutchinson, A., & Bucknail, T. (2010). Nurses’ role in medication safety. Journal of Nursing Management, 18(7), 853-861. doi: 10.1111/j. 1365-2834.2010.01164.x

NCCMERP. About Medication Error. (2017). National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention. Retrieved from http://www.nccmerp.org/about-

Show More
Related

  • Analytic Cover Essay On Vulnerable Populations

    1111 Words  | 3 Pages

    Medication administration within SNFs is arguably the most difficult part of the job. On average, it takes two hours for each scheduled medication pass; AM, Noon, and PM. The nurse-to-patient ratio is approximately one nurse for every twenty-five patients within the SNF. Much higher than the average one-on-one to one-to-six ratio within a hospital setting. The enhanced risks of medication error during the medication pass include very limited amount of time to perform the American Nurses Association (2015) standard of five...

    Read More

  • Chasing Zero : Winning The War On Healthcare Harm

    765 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...estions if not 100% sure of something or use a double checking system. When a nurse is administrating medication, they should use the ten rights of medication administration (right patient, right drug, right route, right time, right dose, right documentation, right action, right form, right response, and right to refuse). Nurses should always keep good hand hygiene and always wear appropriate clothing to prevent from the spread of disease. Good communication with patients and healthcare team members is also key to success. Keeping on the eye on the patient within an appropriate time is important. If the patient ever seems to be looking different than their usual self vitals should be taken immediately. Encouraging patients to ask questions if they are unaware of something can prevent errors as well. Nurses should make sure the patient is on the same page as they are.

    Read More

  • Nurses Are Causing Multiple Medication Errors in a Clinical and Practice Setting

    1018 Words  | 3 Pages

    Unver, V., Tastan, S., & Akbayrak, N. (2012). Medication errors: Perspectives of newly graduated and experienced nurses. International Journal Of Nursing Practice, 18(4), 317-324. doi:10.1111/j.1440-172X.2012.02052.x

    Read More

  • Medication Errors In Pediatric Essay

    734 Words  | 2 Pages

    A medication error is any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or harm to a patient (NCCMERP 2014). The death rate for medication errors averages around 7,000 deaths per year. Lawsuits for medication errors were mainly made against registered nurses because nurses are the last people to check a medication before it is administered. 426 medication error related lawsuits were made against registered nurses. (RightDiagnosis 2014).

    Read More

  • Medication Errors

    533 Words  | 2 Pages

    Medication errors made by medical staff bring about consequences of epidemic proportions. Medical staff includes everyone from providers (medical doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants) to pharmacists to nurses (registered and practical). Medication errors account for almost 98,000 deaths in the United States yearly (Tzeng, Yin, & Schneider, 2013). This number only reflects the United States, a small percentage in actuality when looking at the whole world. Medical personnel must take responsibility for their actions and with this responsibility comes accountability in their duties of medication administration. Nurses play a major role in medication error prevention and education and this role distinguishes them as reporters of errors.

    Read More

  • How Technology Can Aid Patient Safety During The Medication Administration Process

    960 Words  | 2 Pages

    What classifies as a Medication errors? An error can occur any time during the medication administration process. A medication error can be explained 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” (National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention, 2014, para 1). Rather it is at prescribing, transcribing, dispensing or at the time of administration all these areas are equally substantial in producing possible errors that could potentially harm the patient (Flynn, Liang...

    Read More

  • Short Staffing Medical Errors

    292 Words  | 1 Pages

    Furthermore, short staffing affects the quality direct care each patient receives. The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (2012) states an estimated 98,000 individuals die every year from medical errors in the United States. One out of many significant tasks nurses do within their scope of practice is medication administration. Research shows a relationship between short staffing on medication errors: the longer the hours nurses work, the higher the chances of medication errors (Garnett, 2008). (include definition of medication error) Administering medications requires knowledge of patient rights, pharmacological information on the drug, adverse effects, proper dosage calculations, and hospital protocols. When nurses are assigned more patients, they are pressured to give due medications on time. Sometimes due to hunger or fatigue, nurses give the wrong medication to the wrong patient (Frith, Anderson, Tseng, & Fong, 2012).

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Medication Errors

    1590 Words  | 4 Pages

    Nurse’s should have a strong pharmaceutical knowledge background and be aware of the potential harm a medication could cause. In the process of medication administration, registered nurses are responsible to “determine that each medication order is clear, accurate, current and complete”. Medications should be withheld when a medication order is incomplete, illegible, ambiguous or inappropriate; with concerns being clarified with the prescriber (CNO, 2015)”. The critical care nurse demonstrated ineffective communication, which was shown by failing to ask the physician for clarification. Another instance of miscommunication is during medication reconciliation, which is a formal process in which healthcare providers work together to ensure that patient medication information is communicated consistently and accurately across transitions of care (Etchells, 2012).

    Read More

  • Reflection Paper On Clinical Day

    717 Words  | 2 Pages

    Overall, I retain three goals for this clinical day: Safely and efficently administer medication, enhance my nursing/CNA skills, and determine how to implement infection control into a health care setting. This week reflects my assigned time to administer medication in a health care setting for the first time, with a resident who retains nearly twenty medications. I except this experience will be a great learning experience, but it will also subsist slightly stressful. With the assistance of my FOR, my goal is to administer all of my resident 's medications without complications. To ensure that medication safety, I will perform the six medication rights and three checks prior to administration. Along with medication administration, a goal

    Read More

  • Staffing In Nursing Essay

    885 Words  | 2 Pages

    Patient safety should be the highest priority when it comes to health care, so why wouldn't the administrators reduce the ratio of nurse to patients to provide maximum patient care? Nurses that have a higher workload of patients are probably more prone to commit a medication error because they may not have the time to do the five checks of medication administration: the right drug, the right dose, the right route, the right time, and the right patient.

    Read More

  • National Patient Safety Goals

    1810 Words  | 4 Pages

    Tzeng, H., Yin, C., & Schneider, T. E. (2013). Medication Error-Related Issues In Nursing Practice. MEDSURG Nursing, 22(1), 13-50.

    Read More

  • Drug Administration to Patients

    1004 Words  | 3 Pages

    O’Shea, E (1999) Factors contributing to medication errors: a literature review. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 8, 5,496-503.

    Read More

  • Baccalaureate Nursing Essay

    1394 Words  | 3 Pages

    Baccalaureate nurses are responsible for providing and ensure our patients safety. The knowledge from others mistakes can help informs nurses of extra precautions that we can take to ensure our patient’s safety. Risk Analysis and Implication for practice course helped me understand the steps I as a nurse can take as well as the facilities I work for to help reduce the number of medication errors that occur. Interviewing the pharmacist help me get a better insight to what facilities already have in place to help prevent medication errors. However like most things you have to have educated and compassionate caring staff to enforce and follow the guidelines set in place.

    Read More

  • Providing Quality Patient Care

    1528 Words  | 4 Pages

    Mitchell, P. H. (2008). Defining patient safety and quality care an evidence-based handbook for nurses. Rockville,Maryland: Hughes. DOI: //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2681/

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Becoming A Nurse

    752 Words  | 2 Pages

    Care planning is one of these tasks, as expressed by, RNCentral (2017) in “What Is a Nursing Care Plan and Why is it Needed?” it says, “Care plans provide direction for individualized care of the client.” A care plan is for an individual patient and unique for the patient’s diagnosis. It is a nurse’s responsibility to safely administer a patient’s medication prescribed by the doctor. Colleran Michelle Cook (2017) in “Nurses’ Six Rights for Safe Medication Administration,” she says, “The right patient, the right drug, the right dose, the right route and the right time form the foundation from which nurses practice safely when administrating medications to our patients in all health care settings.” Nurses must be safe when dealing with medications, and making sure they have the right patient. Nurses document the care that is given to their patient, as said by, Medcom Trainex (2017) in “Medical Errors in Nursing: Preventing Documentation Errors,” it states, “Nurses are on the front lines of patient care. Their written accounts are critical for planning and evaluation of medical interventions and ongoing patient care.” Nurses must provide an exact, complete, and honest accounts of everything that happens with a patient. Doing this allows for the proper evaluation, and medical interventions for the patient. The typical tasks a nurse involves care planning, administration of treatments and medication, and documenting the care given to a

    Read More

More about Nursing Medication Safety Assignment

Open Document