Medication Errors: Way to Identify and Prevent Medication Errors among Professional Nurses

Abstract

Medication errors are expensive for any in hospital patients, their families and to health care industry. To decrease and to avoid the medication error is crucial during the hospitalization and from opposing medication effects. Hospitals with electronic schemes have less difficulty and fewer expenses. The medication errors could occur by ordering wrong medications, misadministration and mismanagement of the medications, the nurse and healthcare workers' absence of appropriate evidence about the medication research, management and dosage. CPOE have the following important components: (a) The order is complete and legible, including all essential information, as dosage, direction, and frequency. (b) Drug interaction with other prescribed medications. (c) Dose calculation according to weight and or renal function. (d) A baseline blood work such as platelet count and worldwide standardized ratio for clients getting blood thinner, (e) calculating drug-laboratory relations, such as warning the prescriber to a low potassium absorption when anti arrthymic medication is being recommended; and (f) apprising the prescriber with the up-to-date medication information.

Medication Errors: Way to Identify and Prevent Medication Errors among Professional Nurses

Introduction to Proposal

Medication errors are expensive for any in hospital patients, their families and to health care industry. According to US Department of Health and Human Services, the medical errors cause injury to 1.5 million clients and 400 000 conflicting activities each time (Pagilari, Detmer, & Singleton, 2007). To decrease and to avoid the medication error is crucial during the hospitalization and from opposing medication effects. Hospitals with electronic schemes have less difficulty and fewer expenses (Bates & David, 2000).

Identifying the Problem

The medication errors could occur by ordering wrong medications, misadministration and mismanagement of the medications, the nurse and healthcare workers' absence of appropriate evidence about the medication research, management and dosage (Agyemang & While, 2010). Furthermore the medical errors can also occur when the pharmacy personnel do not have appropriate information about their clients (Tam et al, 2005). The doctor use unclear writing and short forms, which is hard to recognize, can also be a major cause of medicine mistakes (Harding & Petrick, 2008). Entering the orders or medicines directly in the computer can reduce the chances of errors and minimize any doubts and uncertainty of the orders that are hand-written. A much better benefit can be attained through Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) and other clinical decision support tools (Williams, 2007). CPOE plays a major part in reducing medication errors, with the reduction of reported error of 55-83% (Murray & Langan, 2010). CPOE with patient-specific assessment support is possibly an influential involvement for enlightening client's safety, since most errors occur at the prescribing step (Seeley et al, 2004). The most common prescribing errors are those which include the incorrect medication or dose, improper dosage of calculation, not checking for allergies, and unable to adjust medication dose for the patient with renal or hepatic dysfunction (Smeaton & Avery, 2006).

CPOE have the following important components: (a) The order is complete and legible, including all essential ...