NURSING & MEDICATION ERROR

Nursing & Medication Error



Nursing & Medication Error

Introduction

Medication errors have become a crucial issue for policymakers and healthcare consumers alike. Nurses are intimately involved in the delivery of medications and primarily responsible for the medication administration phase. Salas (2005) described medication administration best as a complex relationship of a great number of decisions and actions, often performed under less than ideal conditions. Due to the complexity of the task, medication errors occur and can have harm patients. Understanding factors which contribute to medication error incidence is important for the nursing profession. Prior research suggests the majority of medication errors are due to healthcare system deficits and not necessarily individual incompetence (Salas 2005). Literature proposes committed, competent, careful healthcare personnel make mistakes intermittently and the rate increases when faced with difficult circumstances. According to human performance experts, working in complex environments is influenced by human and environmental factors, such as the types of information available, employee experience, conflicting work group goals, and time pressures. Rex (2000) postulate medical errors are a result of the interaction of multiple factors within a complex system. In order to gain insight into medication error incidence, pertinent contextual factors and their relationship to medication error incidence must be expanded. (Pozgar 2004)

Discussion

“At some point in our lives, each of us will probably be a patient in the health care system.” As patients, we expect to receive a certain standard of care, trusting that we will be protected from harm. Within our society, there is an implied expectation of perfection from the healthcare system. Unfortunately, we are all prone to error as human beings. As the IOM (Institute of Medicine) stated in their 2000 report, “To Err is Human.”ii This systematic literature review discusses medication errors with a focus on error reporting and the role of the bedside nurse. It is estimated that anywhere from 44,000 - 98,000 people die each year as a result of medical errors, according to the 2000 IOM report. When compared with other leading causes of death in the United States at that time, medical errors caused more deaths annually than motor vehicle accidents (43, 458), breast cancer (42,297), and AIDS (16,516). (Salas 2005) Medication-related errors, a category of medical error, have the potential to cause great harm. A medication error, as defined by the NCC MERP (National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention), “is any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the healthcare professional, patient, or consumer.” It is estimated that over 1.5 million preventable adverse drug events (defined as any injury related to medications) occur each year in the United States alone. In addition, more than 7,000 deaths are attributed to medication-related errors annually. Since the IOM report, there have been several studies focusing on medication errors and the causes behind them. (Picone 2008)

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