Why Is Medication Safety Important

Implications Medication Errors Have on Patient Safety

With over 100 million people admitted to a hospital in the US, it is no surprise that patient safety is one of the top priorities, one of these priorities is proper medication administration. Picone, Titler, Dochterman (2008) found that 96% of all medication are preventable an alarming realization considering how common they occur. An analysis of medication errors reported by health care professionals shows how common errors are, how they affect patient safety, what steps can prevent errors, and the implications on nursing staff. A medication error is a failure in the drug treatment process that leads to or has potential to lead to harm to the patient (Ferner & Aronson 2006). Patient safety is one of the top concerns that health care professionals face everyday with …show more content…
Although there is hope that a medication error does not affect someone the reality is he or she usually do. Medication errors can affect patients in many ways such as death, physical implications, and psychological implications. The most severe problem that can occur with medication errors is death. Death does not only affect the patient but also the patients family and friends because typically it is a sudden loss of the patient. A medication error consisting of wrong dose, wrong medication, and wrong route can affect the patient’s physical and psychological health. A medication that was given for a specific problem that a patient does not have can damage a person internally. If the patient survives from the medication error, the psychological harm of going through the ordeal could also have lasting effects on the patient. The only way to prevent medication errors is to implicate full proof methods that have been shown to reduce medication