Medication Administration and the Importance of Reducing Errors in the Nursing Practice
Macey Schreiber
Baker University School of Nursing
Medication Administration and the Importance of Reducing Errors in the Nursing Practice
Florence Nightingale stated in her book Notes on Hospitals, published in 1859, “the very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no harm” (Chilton, 2008). Nightingale’s 150-year old expectation continues to hold firm in healthcare today. When patients are admitted to the hospital, nurses are held to a high level of standard to provide care across the life span. Imagine when that standard of care is not met though, and a patient’s health is threatened through a preventable …show more content…
Types of errors include inaccurate prescribing, administering the wrong medication, giving the medication using the wrong route or time interval, administering extra doses or failing to administer. (Potter, Perry, Stockert, & Hall, 2013). 22% of medication errors occur in the administration stage; use of bar-code technology and smart infusion pumps may have an impact on reducing those errors (Tzeng. Yin, & Schneider, 2013). Four specific drug classes – anticoagulants, sedatives, insulins, and opioids – are the most common classes associated with medication errors, likely due to their increased link of potentially harmful outcomes. Most insulin errors stem from human errors, such as concentration lapses, distractions, and forgetfulness, as well as knowledge deficits, such as confusion between insulin syringes and other parenteral syringes. Anticoagulant errors generally involve incorrect dosage calculation and infusion rates; from 2001 to 2006 roughly 60% of the 59,316 anticoagulant errors reached the patient, 3% resulted in death or harm (Anderson & Townsend, …show more content…
Going forward is it important to have a better understanding of medications and the correct way to administer them. Reporting of medication errors should be encouraged to allow immediate intervention. Efforts such as double-checking “high-alert drugs”, which have an increased risk of causing harm to patients when used in error, significantly reduces the risk of errors. It is crucial to employ the mentioned measures to ensure a culture of safety prevails on nursing
Macey Schreiber
Baker University School of Nursing
Medication Administration and the Importance of Reducing Errors in the Nursing Practice
Florence Nightingale stated in her book Notes on Hospitals, published in 1859, “the very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no harm” (Chilton, 2008). Nightingale’s 150-year old expectation continues to hold firm in healthcare today. When patients are admitted to the hospital, nurses are held to a high level of standard to provide care across the life span. Imagine when that standard of care is not met though, and a patient’s health is threatened through a preventable …show more content…
Types of errors include inaccurate prescribing, administering the wrong medication, giving the medication using the wrong route or time interval, administering extra doses or failing to administer. (Potter, Perry, Stockert, & Hall, 2013). 22% of medication errors occur in the administration stage; use of bar-code technology and smart infusion pumps may have an impact on reducing those errors (Tzeng. Yin, & Schneider, 2013). Four specific drug classes – anticoagulants, sedatives, insulins, and opioids – are the most common classes associated with medication errors, likely due to their increased link of potentially harmful outcomes. Most insulin errors stem from human errors, such as concentration lapses, distractions, and forgetfulness, as well as knowledge deficits, such as confusion between insulin syringes and other parenteral syringes. Anticoagulant errors generally involve incorrect dosage calculation and infusion rates; from 2001 to 2006 roughly 60% of the 59,316 anticoagulant errors reached the patient, 3% resulted in death or harm (Anderson & Townsend, …show more content…
Going forward is it important to have a better understanding of medications and the correct way to administer them. Reporting of medication errors should be encouraged to allow immediate intervention. Efforts such as double-checking “high-alert drugs”, which have an increased risk of causing harm to patients when used in error, significantly reduces the risk of errors. It is crucial to employ the mentioned measures to ensure a culture of safety prevails on nursing