The Importance Of Medication Errors In Nursing

The NMC (2015) sets standards of education, training and conduct that health care professionals need to deliver a high quality of care consistently though-out their careers. This is important when it comes to all aspects of fundamental care including the administration of medicines. Medication checks are extremely important in preventing prescription errors and consequent risk to patients (Fitzgerald, 2009). Medication errors are becoming increasingly prevalent following a patients discharge from the hospital. Barnett, et al. (2014) states that up to 70% of patients experience medication errors on discharge or during a transfer to another care setting. Safety management is extremely important. It is about ultimately ensuring that front line care is given to all patients reliably and at a standard set by the Nursing …show more content…
Highlighted by NICE guidelines (2014), it is recommended that for the administration of controlled drugs that a secondary check and signature is required. This is extremely important as controlled drugs can be fatal if not administered correctly. Patients should not be deprived of controlled drugs if another trained member of staff is unavailable to re-check this, therefore it is the nurses job to get in contact with another member of staff to ensure the patient receives their prescribed medicine (NMC, 2013). To avoid error and patient safety risk, nursing staff wore purple aprons when administering drugs and controlled drugs. According to NMC (2014), wearing purple aprons are significant to drug rounds therefore will reduce disruptions and medication error’s when nursing staff are engaged in medication duties. Any incidents or errors should be reported immediately to the person in charge who should investigate and take appropriate action promptly (NMC, 2013). All these interventions are apparent in order to achieve better patient outcomes and reduce patient safety