Medication Errors Essays (Examples)

Medication Errors

Medication Errors

Since the research materials are provided to you by human beings, and may be based

Medication errors pose a significant threat to patients. The results of medication errors vary from mild to deadly. No facility is immune from the possibility to drug errors, either through a fault of their own, or from suppliers or pharmacists that supply them. All medication errors must be reported to the Food and Drug Administration. This agency keeps records of the types of drug errors that occur, with the intention of using them as a tool to improve patient safety on all levels (U.S. FDA). This study will explore many facets of medication errors and will present a review of a video on medication errors from the ISMP website. The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of medication errors and ways to minimize them in any medical setting.

A…… [Read More]

Medication Errors

Medication Errors Including Look-Alike Sound-Alike Drugs in an ICU

People mistakes. This is true in every field and in every job. But in certain areas, mistakes can be costly, even deadly. Medication errors happen because sometimes staff at the medical facility or hospital see drug names that not just look alike, but also sound alike. Statistics point to only 0-2% detection rate of medication errors and prescribing errors. Although over 34% of adverse events happen when it comes to medication errors and over a half for prescribing errors, the very low detection rate presents problems. Medication safety, patient safety should be paramount especially in ICU conditions where the health of patients is at best stable, at worst at the brink of death.

To prevent things like accidental overdose, allergic reactions, or other complications resulting from medication errors, a possible solution is renaming drugs, especially those that have to be injected.…… [Read More]

Medication Errors Over Medication Course Name Course

Medication Errors

Over Medication



Overmedication can be described as an inappropriate medical treatment that occurs when a patient takes unnecessary or excessive medications. This may happen because the prescriber is unaware of other medications the patient is already taking, because of drug interactions with another chemical or target population, because of human error, or because of undiagnosed medical conditions. Sometimes, the extra prescription is intentional (and sometimes illegal), as in the case of the use of excessive psychoactive medications as "chemical restraints" for elderly patients in nursing homes. The purpose of the research paper is to identify the root causes of overmedication and its effect on healthcare. It then goes on to identify the role that a nurse can play in elimination medication errors.

oot causes of Overmedication:

Overmedication is the misuse or prescription of medication in situations where less medication would be more beneficial to the patient. Patients are…… [Read More]

Medication Errors in Nursing Medication

One proven solution to decrease medication errors is use of medication software such as CPOE. It has significantly reduced errors in prescribing, transcription, and dispensing of medications (Hidle). It also has the potential to decrease errors in administration due to unfamiliarity with a drug, drugs with similar names, or incorrect dose calculations since the software performs the calculations. So, why are these systems not used more often in the administration of medications? In general, there has been reluctance on the part of nurses to use software programs. It is not known why this is, but it is thought that unfamiliarity with the technology, lack of training, and lack of involvement in the design of the software has caused this reluctance. Studies have shown that when used medical software has reduced medication errors due to administration (King). One major drawback is the lack of willingness to use the software. This could…… [Read More]

Medication Errors Have Serious Direct and Indirect

Medication errors have serious direct and indirect results, and are usually the consequence of breakdowns in a system of care…Ten to 18% of all reported hospital injuries have been attributed to medication errors" (Mayo & Duncan 2004: 209). One of the most common reasons that errors in medical administration transpire is miscommunication. On a staff level, errors may occur in terms of the paperwork associated with the patient. The hospital pharmacist may misread the strength or even the name of the pill or the frequency of the dose and release the patient with an incorrect pill or orders. Or, within the hospital a nurse may misread the patient's orders and administer treatment incorrectly. If a nurse, within the environment of the hospital, is pressed for time or overtired, risks of medication errors increase.

When a patient is discharged with orders, miscommunication can also occur if the nurse does not stress…… [Read More]

Medication Errors Is Honesty Always

The anger that eventually and inevitably spills out is far more hurtful than any truth I could have told before, and the damage I have done to my self-esteem is too great. My opinions, right or wrong, are part of who I am.

Honesty does not mean tactlessness. In fact, one of the important lessons about learning to be honest is to know that honesty does not mean being too brutal, or sarcastic, or cruel, which is just the same thing as lying. Cruelty is a lie because it is a one-sided tale. Nothing is all bad or all good. Honesty is a balanced and upfront perspective of the truth, even if it is only your subjective, perceived truth. Everyone's truth, after all, will be influenced by their personal biases and perspectives on life. But that does not excuse telling falsehoods about that perspective.

Being honest is important to me,…… [Read More]

Medication Errors and Drug Safety in Public Health

Genetics/Genomics and Medication in Public Health Care

Contemporary health care has experienced significant changes in the recent past because of several factors like technology and advances in genetics or genomics. Actually, nurses in the modern health care system are well positioned to include genetic and genomic information in nearly every aspect of public health. This is primarily because advances in genetics and genomics are applicable to the whole spectrum of health care and every health care profession. The use of genetics and genomics in the current health care system is influenced by the fact that nearly every health condition, disease risk, and therapies used to treat the conditions have a genomic and/or genetic component (Calzone et. al., 2010, p.26).

Some of the most significant public health related advances in genomics and genetics include genetic testing, gene therapy, and genotyping and genetic sequencing. These advances have and are expected to continue…… [Read More]

ICU Medication Errors

Medication Errors in an ICU Unit

Medication Errors -- Including Look-Alike and Sound-Alike Drugs -- in an ICU Unit

Medication errors can and do occur in the ICU unit, and they often come from look-alike and sound-alike medications that can easily get mixed up. When a nurse or other health care professional gives a medication to a patient, that professional should be absolutely certain the medication is the right one, and in the right dosage (Helmons, Dalton, & Daniels, 2012). Unfortunately, that due diligence does not always take place, and people who want and need the proper medications do not always get them (Helmons, Dalton, & Daniels, 2012). Especially in an ICU, when patients are dealing with critical injuries or sicknesses, an incorrect, missing, or wrongly added medication could result in the worsening of a patient's condition or even the death of that patient (Athanasakis, 2012). In addition to medications…… [Read More]

Preventing Medication Errors According to

First of all, there must be a paradigm shift in the patient-provider relationship, one being to "allow and encourage patients to take a more active role in their own medical care" via some type of partnership between a patient and his/her physician. This could be accomplished by better communication via physicians "fully informing their patients about the risks, contraindications and possible side effects" of all medications ("Preventing Medication Errors," 2006, 2).

Second, physicians, nurses and other health care professionals must utilize information technologies to reduce medication errors. One way is to use "point-of-care reference information typically accessed over the Internet" which provides highly-detailed information about the specifics of a certain drug and how it interacts with other medications ("Preventing Medication Errors," 2006, 3). Of course, many hospitals are now using computers instead of paper to track and account for all medications and to ensure that the patient receives the right…… [Read More]

Preventing Medication Errors Definition of

(Institute for Safe Medication Practices)

Many medication errors by the patient occur because they do not know about the drugs they are taking. Nurses can help to identify these gaps and provide education and written materials for the patient.

Medication errors could be greatly reduced if the patient was taught to:

1. Inform doctors of all allergies and any previous reactions to drugs

2. Ask the doctors and pharmacist about prescribed medications in layman terms

3. If English is not the first language always take an interpreter

4. Most important is to be active participant in the health care team. (Woolston, Chris)

Patients in the hospital can help avoid medication errors by:

1. When receiving a new medication, ask what it is and what is for, who ordered it and how often it is given.

2. Always make sure your ID bracelet is checked and state your name to the…… [Read More]

Opportunities to Reduce Medication Errors

"

The right route

Likewise, this clinician advises, "The administrator must give the medication via the right route. In preparing the medication, the triple check will identify the route to be given on the medication order."

The right time

Penultimately, double-checking the time is required: "The administrator will check the medication order to ensure that the medication is given at the right time. The prescriber will identify the times that the medication is to be given."

Proper documentation

Finally, clinicians administering medication are responsible for recording the client's status prior to the medication administration as well as the medication given, the time it was given, the dose given, and the route administered. In addition, "Then the administrator will follow up and record the client's response to the medication given."

Source: Adapted from Six ights to educing Medication Errors, 2012

Methodology

The project will consist of a series of custom-designed posters,…… [Read More]

Prevent Medication Errors Adverse Patient

According to Daughton, a researcher at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Indeed, deaths from medication errors occurring both in and out of hospitals exceed 7,000 annually in the United States -- exceeding those from workplace injuries" (2003, p. 757).

Tertiary healthcare facilities and other healthcare providers have identified some effective methods for reducing the number of medication errors through the use of technology, improving processes, targeting those types of specific medication errors that result in harm to patients, and promoting an organizational culture of safety (Meadows, 2003). One approach that has been shown to be particularly effective has been the use of bar codes and scanners together with computerized patient information systems; in these settings, bar code technology can help to prevent a number of different types of medication errors, including administering the wrong drug or dose, or administering a drug to a patient with a known allergy (Meadows, 2003).…… [Read More]

Developing Delivering and Reassessing an Evidence-Based Program to Decrease Medication Errors

DACH-ZAHAVY A. & PUD D. (2010) Learning mechanisms to limit medication administration errors. Journal of Advanced Nursing 66(4), 794 -- 805.

doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2010.05294.x

In this paper, the learning mechanism used in the limiting of medication errors of studied. The paper is a report of a study the was carried out to identify as well as test the learning mechanism's effectiveness in the context of nursing staff in hospital wards as a way of limiting the errors associated with medication administration.

The background of the paper is the influential report titled 'To Err Is Human' and has a deep emphasis on the role of effective team playing in the reduction of the level of medication errors.

The study involved the random recruitment of 32 hospital wards where data were collected in Israel via a multi-method as well as multisource approach. The medication administration errors were effectively defined as any form of…… [Read More]

Risk Management to Prevent Medication Errors Anf Falls

isk Management Within a Healthcare Environment

Medication errors and falls are among the top events that can cause harm to patients, and consequently, increase the costs of hospitalization. In a healthcare environment, a professional nurse can be liable for damages if her conduct is below the standard of care, which cause injuries to patients. This paper explores the concept of falls, medication errors, and nursing liability. The study recommends how nurses can promote a culture safety within a healthcare environment.

Falls

A fall is an unintentional, and sudden slip that leads to a change in position. A fall is one of the common adverse effects in a hospital setting where more than 37.3 million of the case globally occurs annually. WHO (2012) reveals falls result to more than 424,000 deaths globally each year, and over 80% of the case are in developing countries. In the United States, the fall rates…… [Read More]

Interventions for Reducing Medication Errors

Medication Administration Entails Six ights, Namely:

ight individual

ight medicine

ight dosage

ight route

ight time, and ight documentation (Six ights of Medication Administration, n.d; Perry, Potter & Ostendorf, 2015).

ight Individual

For ensuring that one administers medicine to the correct person, one must firstly know the person, and remain focused on the job to avoid giving that medication to the wrong person (Six ights of Medication Administration, n.d).

ight Medication

For ensuring that the medication is right, one should carefully read the label on the drug/medicine, and triple check it. It should be borne in mind that some of the medications possess two or more names: brand name, along with no less than one generic name (Six ights of Medication Administration, n.d).

ight Dosage

This refers to amount of the particular medication an individual can consume at a time. For dosage determination, one must be aware of each individual…… [Read More]

Medications Errors and the Nurse's Role in Preventing These Errors

medication errors by nurses. There are six references for this paper.

Health care professionals are responsible for the welfare and safety of their patients. One of the most dangerous and preventable mistakes a nurse can make is a medication error. It is important to understand how errors occur, their repercussions and ways to prevent a medication error.

In order to prevent a medication error, a nurse must first understand how it is defined. A medication error 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 health care professional, patient, or consumer. Such events may be related to professional practice, health care products, procedures, and systems, including prescribing; order communication; product labeling, packaging, and nomenclature; compounding; dispensing; distribution; administration; education; monitoring; and use (http://www.fda.gov/cder/present/DIA62002/gross/sld014.htm)."

Causes

There are a number of factors which can contribute to…… [Read More]

Medication Reconciliation Evidence-Based Practice and the Procedural

Medication econciliation

Evidence-Based Practice and the Procedural Education of Nurses

Medication reconciliation is a critical issue in healthcare reform. Today, improvement in this area of treatment could have a transformative effect on the current practices of nursing and medicine administration. The discussion, literature review and research tests that are conducted hereafter will outline the implications of medication reconciliation; justify the call for improvement in this treatment area; and offer support for the resultant recommendations using the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) template as a guide. The discussion will provide a background discussion on the three primary procedural steps by which medication reconciliation is defined: Verifying Medications by Collecting an Accurate Medication History; Clarifying Information by Ensuring Medications and Doses Are Appropriate, and; econciling and Documenting Change. Additionally, the discussion will offer a literature review as a means of providing some comprehensive knowledge of current practices in the field.…… [Read More]

Errors in the ICU

Medication Errors

One of the major challenges impact healthcare providers is medical errors. These issues are challenging, as they will have an adverse impact on quality and safety. In the case of the ICU, these challenges are becoming more pronounced. This is because of the different conditions and large number of patients they are working with. A good example of this can be seen with insights from Orgeas (2010) who said, "Although intensive care units (ICUs) were created for patients with life-threatening illnesses, the ICU environment generates a high risk of iatrogenic events. Identifying medical errors (MEs) that serve as indicators for iatrogenic risk is crucial for purposes of reporting and prevention. We describe the selection of indicator MEs, the incidence of such MEs, and their relationship with mortality. We selected indicator MEs using Delphi techniques. An observational prospective multicenter cohort study of these MEs was conducted from March 27…… [Read More]

Technology in Nursing Impacting Medication Administration

Medication changes with technology: A description and detailed review of five clinical electronic systems that correlate with the process of medication administration technology.

Computerized physician / prescribed order entry (CPOE)

In 2000, following the huge spate of accidental death (approximately 2 million) that occurred nationwide, the Department of Health Services (DHS) surveyed hospitals in California regarding the nexus of patient safety and technology and which technological system they had it in mind to procure by 2005.

46% of the hospitals surveyed rated the computerized physician / prescribed order entry (CPOE) as their preferred technological system since it helps the prescribing clinician enter the medication order directly into the system (Spurlock, et al., 2003). The CPOE, moreover, can instantly detect any error in the prescription as well as employing various levels of decisions support to detect errors to situations that could have led to an error in the prescription (such as…… [Read More]

Accuracy in Medication Practice Improvement

Medication Practice Improvement Episode

Medication Intercept

An intravenous antibiotic Benzylpenicillin (Benpen) course was prescribed for a child to treat acute osteomyelitis. The 30mg/kg dose calculation was duly followed. The child weighed 28kg and so 840mg Benpen dose was to be given every six hours and this was charted accordingly. The chart showed these times: 06:00, 12:00, 18:00 and 24:00. Dose number two was to be taken at 14:00 and two Ns -registered nurses - that administered the dose signed on the column of 12:00 and indicated 14:00 above the signatures. At the time of the handover, no communication was made to the fresh team that the antibiotics had been administered late. When it reached 18:00, me and my colleague went to ready the patient for the next Benpen dose; since it is a requirement that two nurses check an intravenous medication. I discovered that the last dose had been administered…… [Read More]

Legal Aspects of Medical Errors Various Factors

Legal Aspects of Medical Errors

Various factors in the health care system are reported to be contributors to medication errors. This work reviews a case study discussed in 'Hospital Pharmacy' (Smetzer and Cohen, 1998) which provides a clear example of the complex nature of the health care system and the process of medication use and how this interrelates to medication safety and quality. The nurse made the decision to administer the medication by IV. The syringe was labeled IM use only. The administration of the medication by IV would prove to be lethal since the drug is insoluble and obstructs blood flow the lungs needed for transferring oxygen to the individual's airways. The baby after it had died was found to not be in need of the treatment after all.

There were 50 latent and active failures that had occurred during the medication-use process and the majority of these failures…… [Read More]

Prescription Errors the Whole Point

In a study by Shah, Aslam and Avery (2001) of approximately 38,000 prescriptions by 23 doctors, there were a number of errors including: 715 or 25% no directions; 510 or 18% prescribed item not mentioned (usually on repeat prescription); 321 or 11%, directions incomplete, illegible or written "as directed"; 306 or 11%, more than one month's supply given on separate repeat prescriptions without patients request; 260 or 9%, strength missing where a product existed in various strengths, and no guidance available in the BNF; 8% or 229, the prescribed quantity was not clearly written, missing or too large; and 5% or 132, prescriber's signature missing. Another 100 errors were due to prescribing medicines no longer available, incorrect medicine because handwriting, no date or wrong strength.

Given that this is the digital age, it seems that prescriptions can be easily "written" by computer or some form of electronics, and indeed that…… [Read More]

Barcode Scanning Medications the Case

According to the BWH study, in some cases an increase of potential adverse drug events was possible, especially when every dose of medications was not scanned. For barcode scanning technology to work as designed, every medication dose would have to be scanned before it reached the patient (BWH, 2002). Given the current shortage of nurses available to perform routine tasks in hospital care settings, it is likely that multiple errors might occur from a nurse not having time to or forgetting to scan every dose a patient would take before medicating the patient.

Some reports acknowledge that technological systems as barcode scanning are "cumbersome" and may "cause an unreasonable increase in time needed to administer medications" with some hospitals reporting an 8-second delay in medication recognition when nurses used a database instead of manual methods (Cipriano, 2002).

Conclusion

The use of barcode scanning for medication processing and administration is not…… [Read More]

Lived Experience of Nurses With Medication

Nurses Medication

EXPEIENCE OF NUSES WITH MEDICATIONS

The Lived Experiences of Nurses with Medication

Nurses are tasked with the proper distribution of medications. Unfortunately, they sometimes are unable to perform that task properly due to various factors. This paper presents five separate studies, two qualitative and three quantitative or mixed, which researched how nurses commit medication error, what the antecedents are, and how they can be avoided. The studies are examined according to research design, sample size and whether the study could be extrapolated to the broader population.

The Lived Experiences of Nurses with Medication

This is a literature review which focuses on nurses who make medication errors and what importance is placed on those errors in relation to patient safety. Five studies were examined with the express purpose of determining what types of studies are being conducted to alleviate this issue, what research designs they are using, and whether…… [Read More]

Progress Made in Medication Safety Practices

Medical Safety

Poor medical safety practices result in over 40,000 deaths per year, of that 7,000 deaths are attributed to medication-related medical errors. There is no excuse for negligence when it comes to human lives. It is imperative that the medical community introduce sound medication safety best practices to eliminate adverse outcomes related to medication prescriptions. Best practices include the implementation of standardization and protocols in addition to the use of technology to reduce errors.

Medical Safety Practices

Medical practitioners are relied upon to provide solutions, acting as the first and many times, last hope of those in dire need. But despite this great responsibility to patients whose lives are entrusted in medical staff studies show that out of every 100 patients admitted to a medical facility 2 patients will experience a medical error due to incorrectly prescribed or administered medication. The results can be mild but can also be…… [Read More]

Nurses' Practice Environments Error Interception Practices and

Nurses' Practice Environments, Error Interception Practices and Inpatient Medication Errors (2012)

Null hypothesis: There is no significant relationship between nurses' error interception practices and their practice environment.

Alternative hypothesis: There is a significant relationship between nurses' error interception practices and their practice environment.

Two frameworks were used in developing the theoretical foundation of the study: Error Theory and Nursing Organization and Outcomes Model.

Error Theory is a framework developed to explain errors that occur in different organizational settings. In the hospital/medical setting, errors are identified as medical errors, defined as "any preventable event that may lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm" (Flynn et al., 2012, p. 181). In essence, error theory posits that in preventing errors from occurring within an organization, there must be a system established and implemented that could detect, determine, and deter any preventable errors/events. Further, the theory's proponent, J. eason, posited that within the…… [Read More]

How to Avoid Medical Errors When Filling Prescriptions

Ethics and Legalities of Medication Error Disclosure

As Philipsen and Soeken (2011) note, it is the nurse's duty and ethical responsibility to inform the patient of any medical error in treatment, even if the error is "insignificant." The patient still has a right to know, as do all individuals who are impacted by the error (staff as well). This allows the medical community to remain transparent, which is a foundation of trust in the staff-patient relationship. Thus, the ethical implications of disclosure and non-disclosure are clear: to not disclose a medical error is to act unethically and without the transparency and loyalty that is owed the patient as well as the members of the staff. The legal implications of disclosure vs. non-disclosure are also clear. The severity of the error is what is most likely to affect the outcome if the error becomes known and there was no disclosure made…… [Read More]

Nursing Bar Code Medication Administration Bcma Is

Nursing

Bar code medication administration (BCMA) is one of the keys to minimizing medical errors in a manner consistent with evidence-based practice (Poon et al., 2010). However, universal embrace and utilization of BCMA remains stagnant. easons for resisting the transition to BCMA include nurse perceptions. Holden, Brown, Scanlon, & Tzion-Karsh (2012), for instance, found nurses reporting low perceived usefulness of BCMA in spite of the wealth of evidence supporting the technology. Perceived ease of use of BCMA was moderate, suggesting that it is mainly attitude factors preventing nurses from implementing BCMA in their institutions. When perceptions of the usefulness of BCMA increase, then compliance with BCMA standards can become more widespread. Any program that attempts to increase the utilization of BCMA must focus first on human factors including attitudes. This requires that all nurse leaders, as well as nurse educators, prepare advance practice nurses for using BCMA as a matter…… [Read More]

Health Care Situation Medical Error Due to

Health Care Situation: Medical Error Due to Doctors' Bad Handwriting

Identify a health care news situation that affects a health care organization such as a hospital, clinic or insurance company.

I have identified the following health care news situation as the topic of my paper: "Poor Handwriting of Doctors and its implied risks for the Patient, Hospital and Medical Malpractice Insurance." Poor handwriting of physicians resulting in poor legibility of entries into patients' medical records carries very dramatic risks for all above-mentioned interest bearers. It can result in severe health danger for the patient and - in extreme situations - even cause a patient's death. Doctors' bad penmanship has long been seen a problem within organized medicine and the patient safety movement. Three American Medical Association (AMA) policies dating back to 1992, urge doctors to "improve the legibility of handwritten orders for medications" and review all orders for accuracy and…… [Read More]

Procedure for Dispensing Meds

Medication Administration Tech

Policy and Procedure Change Bar Code eader System for Medication Administration

Though the Utah State Hospital has an integrated electronic prescription system there is no evidence that the institution utilizes bar code reading technology either on the unit or in the pharmacy itself. This is evidenced by the lack of such information in the institutions policies and procedures manual, and specifically in their policies and procedures associated with controlled drugs, which is an area where inventory controls, accountability and patient safety are particularly important. Such a system would serve the patient population well, helping to ensure that fewer errors were made and more observation of possible conflicts between medications as well as other issues could be more closely monitored. This work will describe in detail from the literature both the types of systems available, their use and the research effects associated with them to aide in the…… [Read More]

Medical Errors in the Healthcare

Large health care systems with multiple facilities can track as many as 1,000 events each month" (Berntsen, 2004, p. 44). That is an amazing number of cases that came extremely close to becoming medical errors, and they were only stopped by caregiver response or sometimes by chance. Near misses are an extremely important part of the healthcare facility's treatment program, because they can indicate just how accident and error-prone a facility is, and they can even indicate which departments and individuals may be the most error-prone.

How does a staff effectively reduce medical errors in their facility? Authors Turner and Kurtz believe debriefing of the team is key to reducing errors. They write, "Effective debriefing is the key to long-term sustainable improvements in patient safety and care. It is only through debriefing that an organization, team, or individual will improve consistently over time" (Turner, and Kurtz, 2008). Debriefing, the authors…… [Read More]

Adjusting to Medical Errors in Contemporary Medicine

educing Medical Errors in the Modern Healthcare Setting

One of the biggest challenges impacting healthcare providers are the total number of medical errors that occur on a regular basis. These areas are problematic, as they are adversely effecting the safety and quality of care provided. This is because nurses are often overwhelmed from the increasing number of responsibilities and regulations. (Orgeas, 2010)

For example, a study that was conducted by Orgeas determined that the most critical departments (such as: the ICU) are facing these challenges with him saying, " Identifying medical errors (MEs) that serve as indicators for iatrogenic risk is crucial for purposes of reporting and prevention. An observational prospective multicenter cohort study of these MEs was conducted from March 27 to April 3, 2006, in 70 ICUs; 16 (23%) centers were audited. Harm from MEs was collected using specific scales. Fourteen types of MEs were selected as indicators;…… [Read More]

Non-Medical Usage of Prescription Medications

Addiction of Teenagers to Prescription Drugs

Addiction of teenage prescription drugs

The problem of addiction of teenagers to prescription drugs has been on rise in modern days. It is estimated that daily in the United States 2,500 youth abuse prescription drugs. This is not only a problem in the United States, but it also affects teenagers in Europe, South Asia, and Southern Africa. Over 15 million people have reported abusing prescription drugs globally. This is higher than those who reported abusing heroin, cocaine, and hallucinogens. A 2007 survey carried out in the United States in 2007 indicated that in one month 6% of 17 to 25-year-olds and 3.3% of 12 to 17-year-olds had abused prescription drugs. This might seem like a low number, but considering that this only happened in one month you can imagine how prevalent the rates would be in one year. A survey conducted in 2012 found…… [Read More]

Patient Handoffs Majority of the Medical Errors

Patient Handoffs

Majority of the medical errors take place in the patient's handoffs. A shift among the doctors is a common practice. There are a number of old patients who approach around 16 different doctors in a year, while young patients who are healthy refer to normal physicians and to specialists as well (Philibert, 2008). In a hospital normally, less attention is given to the patient by his primary doctor, while the trainees and the hospitalists are more involved in that patient. Patients are rotated to different doctors with an average of fifteen times in a five day stay at the hospital. Young doctors often accept appointments of more than 300 patients in a month, in their initial training period just because of time pressure (Chen, 2009, p. 1).

Alteration that have been brought about in the patients care have increased the quality of the services that are offered to…… [Read More]

Identifying and Fixing Errors

Statistics in Healthcare

The author of this report has been presented with a case study scenario that involves one Ben Davis and another man named Juan de Pacotilla. The former is a young student who has just completed a Statistical Thinking for Business Improvement course and the latter is a pharmacy manager who is ostensibly about to lose his job due to a glut of errors relating to the dispensing of medications that are either the wrong drug or the wrong dosage of the right drug. Juan has spoken to another statistician but the person has been less than helpful in relation to this problem and Juan is now desperate. He sees Ben as a closer ally because Ben actually works in the pharmacy and thus sees thing first-hand. The ostensible task that Ben has been given is to nail down precisely what is going wrong using statistical data and…… [Read More]

Job Aid That Reduces Human Error and

job aid that reduces human error and lack of attention to detail by providing a list of policies, procedures, or items that are needed to produce a consistent job or product. There are checklists used in transportation to ensure the vehicles are ready, in clinical medical practice to organize charting and patient history, in software engineering to check process compliance and code, in litigation to deal with the complexity of discovery, in biology/science to list standardized practices and names, and even in everyday hobbies and life to organize materials, shopping, or contents. This tool of organization and operation may seem simple, but it provides a template and framework for innumerable tasks in almost endless ways (Gawande, 2007). It is interesting to note that this simple tool -- so logical and valuable, has saved so many lives in medical care (e.g. surgery, medication, etc.) by simply trying to understand a multistage…… [Read More]

Healthcare Addressing the Issue of

Stated to be barriers in the current environment and responsible for the reporting that is inadequate in relation to medical errors are:

Lack of a common understanding about errors among health care professionals

Physicians generally think of errors as individual that resulted from patient morbidity or mortality.

Physicians report errors in medical records that have in turn been ignored by researchers.

Interestingly errors in medication occur in almost 1 of every 5 doses provided to patients in hospitals. It was stated by Kaushal, et al., (2001) that "the rate of medication errors per 100 admission was 55 in pediatric inpatients. Using their figure, we estimated that the sensitivity of using a keyword search on explicit error reports to detect medication errors in inpatients is about 0.7%. They also reported the 37.4% of medication errors were caused by wrong dose or frequency, which is not far away from our result of…… [Read More]

Chang Proposal - Milestone 4 Type Text

Chang Proposal - Milestone #4

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N 451- Capstone Project Milestone #4: Design for Change Proposal

Christopher D'Ambrose

N 451 Capstone Course

Quality of patient care is a paramount concern of healthcare professionals. When nurses experience interruptions while they are working, the quality of care patients receive can be negatively impacted. Interruptions have been shown to disrupt working memory, disrupt on-duty focus, induce frustration and stress, contribute to accidents, and lead to patient care errors (Bennet, et al., 2010). Interruptions that occur when nurses administer medication to patients are a particular concern. The incidence of interruptions is higher than might be surmised; according to Day (2010), 19.8% of all procedures did not have any disruptions or clinical errors. Biron, et al. (2009) reviewed 14 observational studies of nurses providing patient care, in which they found that 6.7 interruptions occurred each hour during mediation administration. This…… [Read More]

Intravenous Nursing Implementation of an

The second purpose was to explore the association of demographic variables and nurses' perceptions of pump implementation to ratings of the management team and job satisfaction. Data was collected via a survey given to 1056 nurses at a tertiary Magnet hospital. The first section of the questionnaire pertained to demographic characteristics, while the second section consisted of thirty questions on a 5-point Likert scale based on both STS Theory and the Life Patterns Model conceptual framework.

The researchers conclude that generalizations cannot be made based on just one study. They did state however that the findings of this study give credence to the importance of technological changes in clinical nursing practice. ecommendations were made for future studies in that there is a need to analyze the degree to which technology affects the environment, patient acuity as well as overall nursing satisfaction. Carrying out this study in more that one hospital…… [Read More]

Nurses Relate the Contributing Factors

448). However, due to the recent introduction of the CPOE system (Computerized Physician Order Entry), the authors surmise that this system will help to eliminate up to 80% of all medication errors (Tang, Sheu, Yu, Wei and Chen, 2007, p. 448).

Third, the authors make it abundantly clear that nurses themselves must accept the bulk of the responsibility when it comes to transcribing, dispensing and administering medications to patients. Of course, if the prescription itself, almost always filled out by a physician, is inaccurate, then the responsibility falls upon the prescribing physician, a situation which then leads to nurses dispensing and administering the wrong medication. In addition, the authors provide an analysis related to nurses failing to report their medication mistakes to the proper hospital/clinic authorities, due perhaps to "shame, guilt and the fear of punishment" from their superiors when informed of medication errors on the part of nurses (Tang,…… [Read More]

Managing an Effective Quality Assurance

eports from medical center services and committees concerning patient incidents are used to develop appropriate interventions.

Trended data of patient incidents can point to shift and date where most incidents occur.

Desired Outcome

A 50% reduction in the number medication errors of all types over the next 12 months.

Goals and Objectives to Facilitate Outcome

The overarching goal of this program would be to reduce the number of medication errors in general and among those wards/shifts with the highest numbers of medication errors over the past 12 months. The objectives in support of this goal include:

1. Developing awareness campaign materials such as locally prepared newsletter articles, posters and brochures concerning the goal to reduce medication errors.

2. Conduct a medication error theme seminar that provides basic guidelines for avoiding medication errors (the "5 Ps").

Translation of Goals and Objectives into Policies and Procedures

The above-described goals and objectives would…… [Read More]

Stetina Pamela Michael Groves &

Flexible medication times were the norm amongst these nurses. Even experienced nurses felt that late medications were not critical during busy times, stressing the need to prioritize when giving care (Stetina, Groves & afford 2005:4). Nursing judgment was another justification for flexible medication time, as noted by one "relatively new labor and delivery nurse" who described two situations arising on a specialty unit. The first situation related to purposely omitting a drug because of possible harm to the patient: 'Like with itocin[R] we have an (pause) orders to increase it by so much every 20 minutes, but if the baby's not tolerating it, we don't do it. And that's nursing judgment [not an error]" (Stetina, Groves & afford 2005:4). A perhaps more candid experienced ER nurse admitted that the risk of error increases when emergences occur" as a fact of hospital life (Stetina, Groves & afford 2005:4).

A medical-surgical nurse…… [Read More]

Is Pitocin Induction a Factor in Postpartum Hemorrhage

Pitocin Induction and Postpartum Hemorrhage

THE SEARCH CONTINUES

Is Pitocin Induction a Factor in Postpartum Hemorrhage?

The induction of oxytocin injection has been a bane of contention in the medical community not only because it has been listed as a high-alert medication, which incurs serious risks to the patient, the fetus and the institution. It is also used frequently to manage postpartum hemorrhage. This quantitative correlational study analyzes and presents the findings of five updated and authoritative sources on the subject and answers the questions surrounding the induction of oxytocin in postpartum hemorrhage and its appropriateness, efficacy and safety.

Postpartum hemorrhage occurs when there is blood loss greater than 500 ml during spontaneous vaginal delivery or 1,000 ml during a cesarean section delivery (Yiadom, 2010). Fortunately, in most cases, healthy females can tolerate much blood loss of more than 500 ml without incurring adverse conditions. The two types are early…… [Read More]

Authors Y H Lin and S M

B. This study used cross-sectional design and may tend to under-select individuals who have been exposed. This is known as "late-look bias." The possibility of nurses recalling MAEs over their careers may result in reporting of, or remembering information that is not accurate.

C. The instrument developed by authors used expert validity, but more research is needed to determine the construction validity and use the appropriate interventions to decrease MAEs (Lin & Ma).

9.

esearch questions

ather than a hypothesis, the Lin and Ma (2009) study was guided by the following research questions:

A. What is the self-reported incidence of MAEs throughout a nurse's career in Taiwan?

B. What is the willingness of nurses to report MAEs?

C. What factors are related to nurses' willingness to report MAEs?

The first research question, though, differs from the authors' stated purpose which was to "explore the prevalence of MAEs and the willingness…… [Read More]

System Design Considerations and Workarounds Implementation of

System

Design Considerations and Workarounds

Implementation of an informatics system in nursing

The nursing profession continues to evolve with the advancing technology, ensuring that it maintains standards of quality in service. In the endeavor to facilitate quality healthcare, the profession endorsed the use of medical informatics systems. The nursing informatics integrates the three subjects of nursing science, computer science and information science. The practice employs these facilities in managing and communicating data and information while in line of duty. The informatics in nursing facilitates integration of information and knowledge to support the patients, nurses and doctors in decision making roles and administering of care (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2012). Information technology is essentially the significant aspect of the informatics; thus, it is necessary for hospitals to consider the quality of the technology they employ.

Medical informatics systems

The medical informatics systems support a variety of activities in the hospital or clinic…… [Read More]

Technology and Health Information Usage

" (MediLexicon International, Ltd., 2006).

The PCIP was formed from the recognition that high costs and low quality inherent in the Healthcare system of the U.S. is largely due to a system that is antiquated and fragmented (DOHMH, 2006a). The inability to properly collect and use health information is one of the primary problems associated with proper health care maintenance. The PCIP. was formed in response to this need. The primary care physician acts as the conduit between the patient and the healthcare system. However, the physician often has no means to effectively transmit the information that they collect to other entities within the system. The PCIP grew out of a need for the primary health care Physician to be able to transmit the needed information to others in the Healthcare system.

There are three essential parts to the PCIP. The first is the Primary Care Health Information Consortium (PCHIC).…… [Read More]

Wired Hospital in Today's Time

This is exactly where the problem usually starts.

There are a number of reports published which revealed that even the physicians are not so keen into attending more seminars and trainings to learn the new systems (Ball, 1992). Physicians are expectedly always busy. They sometimes work from hospital to hospital. They are always on call hence they really find it hard to squeeze in their thigh schedule the time for further training and semi-are regarding the system. At some point in time, physicians will also worry about their income that will be affected if they will get a time off just to attend the training.

In the same manner, most of the administrators, who will manage the new systems for the hospitals, also show signs of hesitance regarding the training. It must be noted that the being considered as a 'wired hospital' the institution must have uniform data standards (Aspden…… [Read More]

Smart Health Card Role in Rational of Medicines Use

Smart Card Health Role in Rational Use of Medicines

The objective of this study is to examine the role of smart cared in health and their role in the rational use of medicines. Smart cards are very small and very secure and serve to protect patient privacy. Smart cards contain digital logs with location, date, time, and the individual's stamp to record every transaction. Smart cards also may contain digital prescriptions therefore mistakes made with prescriptions that are handwritten are eliminated and specifically as to the "quantity or quality of medications." (HealthOne, 2011)

How the Smart Card Works

The smart card uses technology that stores a patient's personal health information on a microprocessor chip embedded in the card that is the size of a credit card but that has a "small metal contact plate on the front which is how the reader accesses the medical information stored on the chip"…… [Read More]

Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic Cancer

Etiology:

The most common cause of pancreatic cancer is smoking which accounts for 25 -- 30% of cases (urveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program). Other factors include hereditary pancreatic cancers, adults with diabetes of minimum duration two years, hereditary pancreatic, and a history of other family cancers (GUT. Guidelines for the management of patients with pancreatic cancer periampullary and ampullary carcinomas). The Consensus Guidelines of the International Association of Pancreatology advises that patients with a genetic history of pancreatic cancer should be referred to specialist centers where they can receive diagnosis of pancreatic diseases, genetic counseling, and advice on secondary screening (Ulrich et al., 2001).

Pathology:

Most pancreatic cancers (about 90%) originate in the ductal region and are usually discovered when they are locally advanced. They are called ductal adenocarcinoma. Others (80-90%) occur in the head of the gland (GUT). Lymph node metastasis is common as well as…… [Read More]

Worked a Number Years Office a Family

worked a number years office a family physician retired. You a position a busy surgical floor a local, acute-care hospital. You frequently hear references JCAHO requirements documenting a patient's pain assessment treatment, documenting medication administration, documenting verbal telephone orders.

Documenting patient's pain assessment and treatment

Pain assessment is the first step in managing pain. The suggested method of improving pain care essentially requires that the following procedures are followed properly and meticulously.

a) The pain and its intensity must be measured using an appropriate tool. There are many tools but the best is self reporting by the patient for the pain.

b) The second important thing to be followed is to repeat the assessment consistently and record the same at varying intervals to record the process of the progress of pain. The tool or format for this must be chosen before hand and the same record structure must be maintained…… [Read More]

Nursing Clinical Placement Report -

Studies suggest that more computerized order entry of medications helps reduce errors by limiting interpretation errors due to handwriting (Meadows, 2003). Thus more order entry is involving computers to protect patients. A culture that supports safety and safe practices has also been adopted to provide nursing staff and patients information about drug therapy and medication to ensure that everyone is aware of the need for safe practices when utilizing and dispensing medications.

Describe the strategies used to ensure nursing practice is performed within legal requirements and ethical frameworks

Nurses now "live and work in a world where there is no single reality but many coexisting realities among which they must choose" (Johnston, 1999:1). Given that through more and more nurses are forced to make legal and ethical decisions and take steps that will determine the best processes to adopt to ensure that moral and legal processes are adopted and followed.…… [Read More]

Care Needs Concerns and Treatment

Furthermore, one of the pillars of collaborative care that will need to be firmly established is the fostering of clear dialogue and a means for strong communication within the care management planning. For instance, there needs to be a clear decision and communication of all tests ordered and when the test results will be available. One of the most important aspects of this collaborative care will be the nursing interventions which can have significant impact on the patient's health and stabilization (Allen, 2010). In fact, strategic nursing care can even minimize readmission rates of Margaret and other patients with comparable conditions (Chen et al., 2012).

Prioritize the Nursing Care Needs of Margaret

The prioritization of nursing interventions is essential, and the way in which a nurse determines this priority is going to be something unique and distinct. "Trials reviewed demonstrated a beneficial impact of nursing interventions for secondary prevention in…… [Read More]

Characteristics of a Nurse

Nurses are considered the backbone of the medical care-giver community. Good quality patient care centers on having a competent educated nursing labor force. There is a wealth of empirical evidence that has demonstrated Baccalaureate (BSN) nurses are associated with fewer medication errors, lower mortality rates, and greater overall positive patient outcomes than nurses at lower levels of educational achievement. For example, Brady, Malone, and Fleming (2009) performed an extensive literature review and found that BSN nurses made fewer medication errors than their less educated counterparts. Aiken and associates (2003) found a strong link between N education level and patient outcomes. Their findings indicated that for every ten percent increase in the proportion of BSN nurses in a surgical unit there was a four percent decrease in the risk of death to patients. In a large study of nearly 47,000 patients conducted at the University Toronto it was found that hospital…… [Read More]

Managing Quality Safety and Risk

He or she is also entitled to proper medication to deal with the disease.

It's not just the responsibility of medics to offer health care but the family members of the sick too play a very important role in caring about health. y accompanying the sick person to hospital and administering the prescribed medicine at home. As well, family members offer support by praying and giving the sick member company. Did you know that even loneliness is a health hazard.

Quality health care is individual responsibility. Every individual is supposed to make sure they have the best health always. Contagious diseases should be avoided at all costs, however, should we contact them then we should care for ourselves. A sick person should maintain bodily cleanliness and eat the right foods. Ones health should not also cause harm to neighbors at home and in public. Global concerns are also rising quickly…… [Read More]

Pharmacist In This Case the Pharmacist

eflection

A reflection on the case shows me that ethical and moral guidelines must be instilled in pharmacy as a profession. It is therefore necessary for the pharmacies to collaborate with other key stakeholders in ensuring that proper guidelines are put in place together with polices aimed at ensuring an ethical and moral pharmaceutical practice. Case esolution Model (CM) (Brincat & Wike,1999) is therefore an important model since it has taken me through all the necessary steps that can allow me to effective conclude this case amicably.

eferences

World Health Organization (2001). The ole of the Pharmacist in Self-Care and Self-Medication.Available online at http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/pdf/whozip32e/whozip32e.pdf

Brincat, C.,Wike, vs (1999). Morality and the Professional Life: Values at Work. Pearson; 1st ed.

Passmore P, Kailis SG (1994).In pursuit of rational drug use and effective drug management: clinical and public health pharmacy viewpoint. Asia Pac J. Public Health. 1994;7(4):236-41.

outledge, PA., O'Mahony, MS., WoodhouseKW…… [Read More]

Lamictal The Oral Anticonvulsant and

There are certain interactions that may cause toxicity

Administration

The drug may be administered orally without regard to meals.

Overdose

The seriousness of an overdose of Lamictal depends on the ingested amount. There are however several non-life threatening symptoms of overdosing Lamictal with symptoms raging from ataxia, dizziness, somnolence and headache. However, in certain cases of overdose, the patient would experience renal and liver failure, delirium, rash as well as coma. The lethal dosage is lower for children. All suspected cases of Lamictal overdose should be treated as a medical emergency and the patient should be taken for immediate medical attention.

Conclusion

Lamictal has been very effective in the treatment and management of epilepsy and depression. A review of literature however suggests that it has certain risks in its administration. It is therefore necessary to be careful when taking or prescribing this medication. There are reports that the drug Seroquel…… [Read More]

Transferring Vital Records and Responsibility

In order to implement these new techniques, an understanding of where handoffs occur is also crucial. Knowing where handoffs are frequent enables the healthcare facility to expect and enable these techniques effectively.

Handoffs as mentioned previously, occur in high traffic units of the health care facility, when specialists are needed, and in large facilities such as hospitals. Handoffs generally occur under these circumstances: shift-to-shift handoff, nursing unit-to-nursing unit handoff, nursing unit to diagnostic area, special settings (operating room, emergency department), discharge and interfacility transfer handoff, and physician-to-physician handoffs. In 2011, stricter national regulations, offered to minimize the continuous-duty hours of first-year resident physicians from 30 to 16 to help decrease incidences of ineffective handoffs. Some argue this will be ineffective, but considering how many residents and interns make mistakes because of their fatigue from long work hours, it seems to help more than hurt.

Ultimately it takes a lot to…… [Read More]

Workflow Analysis of a Selected Nursing Activity

Workflow Anaysis

Workflow Analysis Of A Selected Nursing Activity

Workflow Analysis:

The Tele-Management System

Medication errors have resulted to numerous injuries, which has led to some healthcare providers adopting IT systems such as electronic records and information systems as a measure to minimize the errors. The adoption of these technologies involves several stakeholders, but most importantly, the informatics nurses. These nurses play an important role in optimization by representing the needs of clinicians. In addition, they also assist in improving technological solutions in case of technological hitches with the IT systems. When hospitals adopt technology solutions, it will influence their workflow process (McGonigle and Mastrian, 2012).

The informatics nurses come in to redesign the workflow to accommodate the solution, through evaluation of tasks that will require the utilization of technology. However, the solutions adopted should allow for exchange of information across different hospitals to improve or eliminate dependence on one…… [Read More]

It Infrastructure Project Description the

Secured real time protocol (STP) is also being identified to enhance the security parameter of WAN and LAN network elements. "STP provides protection with encryption keys for wired and wireless networks including bandwidth limited channels." (Guillen and Chacon 2009 P. 690). There is also a growing use of IP secure to protect organization from the interception of data over the LAN and WAN environment.

To enhance network security, Chen, Horng, & Yang (2008) postulate the use of public key cryptography. While there is a growing use of public key cryptography, there is still a shortcoming identified with the use of public key cryptography in the LAN and WAN environment. Since the public key is being kept in a public file, it is possible for an active intruder to forge the contents of the public key and use it to get access onto the data kept within the network system. To…… [Read More]

Informatics Implication for Nursing Safety

challenging environment that the world faces has placed much strain and stress on the health care industry and their many institutions. Despite the rapid advances in technology, nutrition and fitness, the world is in constant need of medical treatment and assistance. The role of the nurse and the professional duties that accompany this experience has also changed rapidly along with technology and medical advancement. It is important to investigate how nurses can take advantage of these newly developed systems to perform at a higher level and eventually ease the suffering and pain that accompanies medical procedures in today's day and age.

Informatics is a newly formed discipline that provides some of the solutions to the many problems that nurses are faced with. The purpose of this essay is to discuss and highlight the importance of informatics and its synthesis into the nursing profession. The essay will first give some background…… [Read More]