Electronic Medication Errors

Technology Informatics Over the years, hospitals have worked hard to decrease the amount of post-discharge medication errors. According to Allison et al. (2015), electronic medication reconciliation is a system created to help medication inconsistencies. These electronic medication reconciliation handouts are now part of Joint Commission on Accreditation standard requirements. It was the hopes of the JCA that the medication reconciliation would cause the professionals to review and resolve any medication errors prior to affecting the patient. With clear easy to read discharge medication lists, many times patients notice errors prior to leaving the hospital. Allison et al. (2015), states that the estimated cost of each medication error is $2,000. Nationally this can be as much two billion dollars per year. Safety of patients has always been a …show more content…
This step is as important as picking up required medications. Nurses need to educate the patient that they need to remove unnecessary medications to prevent adverse medication interactions. Home health nurses help with this process because sadly many times facilities will not help fill med boxes. This challenge of ensuring correctly filled medication boxes can be a struggle. Without proper knowledge, errors easily happen. Lastly, confirming that they see their primary care physician as soon as possible after to discharge. Discharging patients on a weekend has disadvantages. Due to offices being closed for the weekend, appointments will need to be the patient’s responsibility to schedule. Many times this appointment gets forgotten. Even when the discharging facility makes a referral to the office to contact the patient, many times this happens to get missed. When this gets missed, patients many times do not follow up with their primary care physician.
Changes Home Health Nursing has Implemented and has there been