Causes Of Medication Errors

The literature suggests that there are some possible causes that may explain why some medication errors occur. These include some risky behaviors of professionals who administer medications. Although they are performed by an individual, it can be said that there is a break in the system that leads to the performance of these behaviors. In 2008, Cohen, H. and Shastay, A. replicated a previous study from 2002 by administering surveys to 1,296 nurses regarding different aspects of medication administration. They discovered that risky behaviors existed, including failing to double check heparin, insulin, or opioids with a second nurse, bypassing medication administration technologies such as bar-coding, and borrowing medications from other …show more content…
By studying these barriers, organizations may implement changes to improve the medication administration process and workflow. A 2005 computerized database search performed by Rich, V. demonstrated that there was not enough nursing research on the topic of medication errors. Nurse researchers participated in fewer than one quarter of the studies. This can be considered a barrier because nurses are at the forefront of medication administration and should also be at the forefront of defining practice. The 2005 study by Rothschild, J. et al. showed that barriers existed in the use of the new smart pumps that could have led to a decrease in compliance by nurses. One of these barriers included needing to take several extra steps in order to get to the drug library. Nurses would work around this by manually entering the drug. A 2009 descriptive comparative study by Fowler, S. et al. also found that nurses struggled with the efficiency of newly implemented technology such as bar-coding. The nurses stated it created extra steps and therefore took up too much time. In 2010, Schwappach, D., Hochreutener, M., and Wernli, M. found that barriers existed when providers attempted to involve patients in the medication administration process. Some nurses found that patients did not communicate certain aspects of their medications such as side effects or even the wrong dose. Patients sometimes see nurses as an authoritative figure and do not speak up when they question something. Another barrier found in this study was that some nurses questioned how they could encourage patients’ participation if the nurses could not even keep up with the changing drug regimens. Lastly, some nurses felt that their patients would lose trust in them if they asked the patients to participate in the medication administration process. It is important for