Error Prevention in Nursing
Nursing errors commonly are related to medication errors, documenting errors, infections, patient falls, and equipment injuries. According to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), around 42% of healthcare related life threatening events and 28% of medication adverse reactions are preventable (ISMP, 2013). Therefore, health professionals, especially nurses play a key role in reducing and preventing risky situations that threaten the health of patients. In the US, medication and documentation mistakes are more frequent than desired and close related to the pharmacology subject of study, that is why we will focus on them in this essay.
Medication Errors
My personal plan to prevent errors in my practice …show more content…
A report published in the Journal of Patient Safety last year said the number of deaths due to preventable hospital errors ranges from 210,000 to 400,000 people each year (CBS News, 2014). Errors can occur during all the process which goes from writing the prescription to the final drug administration to the patient. But, due to the fact that nurses administer most drugs to patients, nurses always will be the last and most important defense for detecting and preventing medication error. Therefore be focused to ensure minimal distractions when administering medications and follow the guidelines to improve the safety of using medications established by The Joint Commission always must be our golden rule (Workman & LaCharity, 2011, page 31).
References
CBS News (2014, December 04). Hospital Medication Error Ills Patient in Oregon. Retrieved March 20, 2015, from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/oregon-hospital-medication-error-kills-patient/
Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) (2013). ISMP’s List of Error-Prone Abbreviations, Symbols, and Dose Designations. Retrieved March 20, 2015, from https://www.ismp.org/tools/errorproneabbreviations.pdf
Workman, M., LaCharity, L., & Kruchko, S. (2011). Understanding pharmacology: Essentials for medication safety. St. Louis, Mo.: Elsevier/Saunders. (pp. 28 -
Nursing errors commonly are related to medication errors, documenting errors, infections, patient falls, and equipment injuries. According to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), around 42% of healthcare related life threatening events and 28% of medication adverse reactions are preventable (ISMP, 2013). Therefore, health professionals, especially nurses play a key role in reducing and preventing risky situations that threaten the health of patients. In the US, medication and documentation mistakes are more frequent than desired and close related to the pharmacology subject of study, that is why we will focus on them in this essay.
Medication Errors
My personal plan to prevent errors in my practice …show more content…
A report published in the Journal of Patient Safety last year said the number of deaths due to preventable hospital errors ranges from 210,000 to 400,000 people each year (CBS News, 2014). Errors can occur during all the process which goes from writing the prescription to the final drug administration to the patient. But, due to the fact that nurses administer most drugs to patients, nurses always will be the last and most important defense for detecting and preventing medication error. Therefore be focused to ensure minimal distractions when administering medications and follow the guidelines to improve the safety of using medications established by The Joint Commission always must be our golden rule (Workman & LaCharity, 2011, page 31).
References
CBS News (2014, December 04). Hospital Medication Error Ills Patient in Oregon. Retrieved March 20, 2015, from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/oregon-hospital-medication-error-kills-patient/
Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) (2013). ISMP’s List of Error-Prone Abbreviations, Symbols, and Dose Designations. Retrieved March 20, 2015, from https://www.ismp.org/tools/errorproneabbreviations.pdf
Workman, M., LaCharity, L., & Kruchko, S. (2011). Understanding pharmacology: Essentials for medication safety. St. Louis, Mo.: Elsevier/Saunders. (pp. 28 -