Medication administration is one of the most common activities in healthcare (Harkanen, Turunen, Saano, & Vehvilainen-Julkunen, 2013, p.32). Wise Regional Health Systems (WRHS) has implemented policy and procedures to insure safe administration of medications by licensed nurses. Although policy and procedures are in place to insure safe medication administration, errors do occur.
Many variables come into play when administering medication that could cause medications errors including distractions and interruptions, nursing workflow, lack of communication among co-workers, drug calculations, etc. (Harris, 2014, p. 402-403). According to G. Matthews, the hospital staff utilizes the pyxis, an electronic medication dispensing system, and a medication administration check (MAK) system when providing patients with medications to decrease the risk of …show more content…
“Medication error reporting is an important measure to prevent medication error incidents in a healthcare system and can serve as an important tool for improving patient safety” (Sarvadikar, Prescott, & Williams, 2010, p. 843). Nurses are hesitant to report medications errors due to the “fear of being blamed, or losing their jobs, and adverse consequences from reporting” (Kim, Kwon, Kim, & Cho, 2011, p. 351). WRHS uses an online medication error reporting system via the intranet to encourage error reporting. Nurses are encouraged to self-report medication error without fear of consequences. According to G. Matthews, “near-misses” are rarely reported. She reports that all medications errors, including near-misses should be reported to insure patient safety and to help prevent future errors (personal communication, October 5, 2015). When discussing an error with a nurse, G. Matthews attempts not to place blame her but discusses ways to prevent the same or similar error from occurring in the future (personal communication, October 5,
Many variables come into play when administering medication that could cause medications errors including distractions and interruptions, nursing workflow, lack of communication among co-workers, drug calculations, etc. (Harris, 2014, p. 402-403). According to G. Matthews, the hospital staff utilizes the pyxis, an electronic medication dispensing system, and a medication administration check (MAK) system when providing patients with medications to decrease the risk of …show more content…
“Medication error reporting is an important measure to prevent medication error incidents in a healthcare system and can serve as an important tool for improving patient safety” (Sarvadikar, Prescott, & Williams, 2010, p. 843). Nurses are hesitant to report medications errors due to the “fear of being blamed, or losing their jobs, and adverse consequences from reporting” (Kim, Kwon, Kim, & Cho, 2011, p. 351). WRHS uses an online medication error reporting system via the intranet to encourage error reporting. Nurses are encouraged to self-report medication error without fear of consequences. According to G. Matthews, “near-misses” are rarely reported. She reports that all medications errors, including near-misses should be reported to insure patient safety and to help prevent future errors (personal communication, October 5, 2015). When discussing an error with a nurse, G. Matthews attempts not to place blame her but discusses ways to prevent the same or similar error from occurring in the future (personal communication, October 5,