Last Updated on January 3, 2023 by Admin
Provide your answers to the following questions in a 2-page . Use APA Editorial Format for all citations and references used.
- What should the “culture and environment of safety” look like when preparing and administering medications?
- Discuss a common breach of medication administration.
- Identify three (3) factors that lead to errors in documentation related to medication administration.
- What can I do to prevent medication errors?
Expert Answer and Explanation
Safety in Administration of Medication
When administering pharmacologic agents, a provider has to consider the safety of these agents, and the guidelines for prescribing the medications. This is necessary to help reduce the risk of the safety issues which may arise because of the errors in administering medications. Medication errors can have undesirable impact on the patient’s health, and in some extreme cases, it can result to the organ dysfunction. Other effects include prolonged duration of stay in the hospital, and wastage of medical resources, and providers, therefore, should correctly administer drugs (Bari, Khan, & Rathore, 2016). It is imperative to explore drug administration in terms of the culture and environment of safety, breach, and assess the causes and means of prevention of medication errors.
Culture and Environment of Safety
The culture and environment of safety, in regard to the preparation and administration of medication, is characterized by having conditions in which providers have competencies, attitudes, values and beliefs which are core to administering drugs in an appropriate manner. In such environment, the patient’s wellbeing is prioritized, and medication is administered in a manner that reflects the patient’s health needs. Within such an environment, still, the patient’s demographic characteristics, their response to medication, and past treatment are taken into account during drug administration (Hemphill, 2015). The providers monitor the patient to assess progress, and put the patient on another medication if they are unresponsive to treatment.
Common Breach of Medication Administration
While there are different kinds of breaches of medication administration, the common form of these breaches is the wrong dose. This particular error results when a provider administers medication in wrong quantities, and in wrong frequency. This causes a situation where the patient receives more than or less than the required drug dosage. This issue arises when the person prescribing the medication gives inadequate and unclear prescription information, or when the individual administering the drug misreads the prescription details (Márquez-Hernández et al., 2019).
Causes of Documentation Errors
There are various factors which cause the errors associated with the documentation of medications. One of these factors is the illegible handwriting. When a handwriting is sloppy, one can mistake a drug for another, and administer the wrong medication in the process. Another factor is the failure to complete the documentation. This results when the clinician fails to include in the documentation form all the details required. Another factor is the addition of the entries to the documentation when treatment is already in progress (Márquez-Hernández et al., 2019).
Prevention of Medication Errors
Providers can prevent medication errors by undertaking certain measures. One of these measures is making sure that they document every information. They can do this by double checking the documented information. The use of the name alert, still, can help minimize the risk of the errors. This can be useful particularly where more than two patients share a name. Following the correct medication reconciliation procedures can equally prevent mistakes (Almanasreh, Moles, & Chen, 2016).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the mistakes associated with administering drugs can have serious impact on the patient’s wellbeing, and for the caregivers, there are certain key measures which can help mitigate the medication errors. Ensuring the adequate documentation, and cross checking the prescription details are examples of such measures. The culture and environment of safety are critical when it comes to preventing the mistakes in medication administration. For this reason, hospitals should promote values and beliefs, and establish competency standards focused on administering medication in a correct manner.
References
Almanasreh, E., Moles, R., & Chen, T. F. (2016). The medication reconciliation process and classification of discrepancies: a systematic review. British journal of clinical pharmacology, 82(3), 645–658. Doi; https://doi.org/10.1111/bcp.13017.
Bari, A., Khan, R. A., & Rathore, A. W. (2016). Medical errors; causes, consequences, emotional response and resulting behavioral change. Pakistan journal of medical sciences, 32(3), 523–528. Doi; https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.323.9701.
Hemphill, R. R. (2015). Medications and the Culture of Safety : Conference Title: At the Precipice of Quality Health Care: The Role of the Toxicologist in Enhancing Patient and Medication Safety Venue ACMT Pre-Meeting Symposium, 2014 North American Congress of Clinical Toxicology, New Orleans, LA. Journal of medical toxicology : official journal of the American College of Medical Toxicology, 11(2), 253–256. Doi; https://doi.org/10.1007/s13181-015-0474-z.
Márquez-Hernández, VV., Fuentes-Colmenero, A.L., Cañadas-Núñez, .F, Di Muzio, M., Giannetta, N., Gutiérrez-Puertas, L. (2019). Factors related to medication errors in the preparation and administration of intravenous medication in the hospital environment. PLoS ONE 14(7), e0220001. Doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0220001.
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