Medication errors in hospitals Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Medication errors in hospitals - Research Paper Example This research will begin with the statement that a device or medication faults more often takes the form of erroneous use of a prescription order or the wrong operation or placing a medical device in a wrong manner. Errors also include the unintentional exchange of a mistaken product in the place of the prescribed one. Also, faults may occur for example, when confusing product name results in the wrong product being dispersed or when inattention leads to an overdose of a certain intended drug. A considerable number of injuries occur annually because of medication or device errors. In general medication mistakes are presumed to be as a result of certain problems within the whole health care system, implying that these faults are usually multiple errors that exist in almost the entire health care system, for example a doctors’ illegible written prescription pads as well as unclear or rather an unfamiliar drug labelling may also result in pharmacists misreading prescriptions and labelling and filling prescription with the wrong medication. Particularly in a hospital milieu and setting, medication safety is especially a very sensitive and delicate issue considering their composite mix of technological and human systems. Melcher, Lampert, Haschke, Drewe& Krahenbuhl, stated that medication errors occurred mostly during the administration process, he concluded that majority of the errors arise during the administration 53%, followed by prescription 17%, and preparation 14% and finally transcription 11%.... of a dependable and regular approach that permits for monitoring , reporting and examining as well as reviewing of errors in an accommodative environment, this identifies and eliminates the reasons for errors. The organization develops a system for frequent and recurrent assessment and evaluation of nurse’s medication administration processes and reassurance of continuous supervision by the head nurse. The development of a quality system which should involves policies and procedure manual to give guidance on medication administration process and enhance quality of nursing care in medication administration. Increase the effectiveness of communication among health care providers to improve and ascertain continuity of patient care. Finally revise and redesign the medication recording formats such as medication kardex, medication history sheets, and medication error reports to make uniform medical practitioners performance moreover the hospital should make available adequate suppl ies in terms of facilities and equipments essential for correct preparation and administration of medications and the provision of appropriate rooms for preparation of medication. 2. Improvements on physicians and pharmacists for quality improvements of medical areas In regards to improvements on physicians and pharmacists the following changes can be implemented; Physicians should be aware of the hospital guidelines and guiding principles in regards to drafting medication orders in the right format, readable and understandable instructions and monitor oral medication orders to augment the medication administration procedure. Physicians and doctors should be readily available all through inside the intensive care unit (ICU) upon being requested for confirmation and clarification of medication