In your current medical facility, or in any medical facility where you have recently worked, consider the following:
Explain and describe what is being done or has been done to reduce medication errors.
Analyze what could be done in addition to the current protocol to decrease medication errors.
(for reference I am an operating room nurse)
Unit 2 Discussion
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Unit 2 Discussion
Medication errors result in preventable adverse events which are directly linked to poor health outcomes among patients and increased length of hospital stay. In the USA there is a prevalence rate of between 100, 000 and 400,000 deaths annually (Wahr et al., 2017). In a facility where I recently worked, medication errors were prevalent in the operating room. Medication errors were common since the anesthetist is the only involved practitioner involved in processes like prescription, formulation, and dispensation of the medication. Some of the common errors that I have experienced as an operating room nurse include miscalculation of dilution or the failure to dilute the drug, syringe swap, or repetition or the omission of a dose.
To minimize the adverse events associated with medication errors in the operating room, some methods have been used which include proper labeling using color and labels by drug class, organizing and standardized use of drug trays, as well as careful administration procedure that entails reading and verifying vials, ampule and syringe labels before administration and the use of a barcode scan with an audible and visual alert. Proper labeling ensures minimal confusion during the administration of drugs (Litman, 2018). Verifying dosages of drugs and concentration should be done by a second party to ensure that the drugs to be administered are the correct ones and in their recommended dosages. Barcode scanner with both visual and audio alerts aim at notifying ng the anesthetist of the drug before administration for easy confirmation.
In addition to the above measures, the use of pharmacy-based assistance with a specialized pharmacy that provides pre-mixed solutions and prefilled syringes for anesthesia drugs could significantly lower the incidence of medication errors (Litman, 2018). The above would minimize the cases of accidental needle sticks and unsafe injection practices reducing patients’ exposure to pathogens from bodily fluids.
References
Litman, R. S. (2018). How to prevent medication errors in the operating room? Take away the human factor. British Journal of Anaesthesia, 120(3), 438-440.
Wahr, J. A., Abernathy III, J. H., Lazarra, E. H., Keebler, J. R., Wall, M. H., Lynch, I., … & Cooper, R. L. (2017). Medication safety in the operating room: literature and expert-based recommendations. BJA: British Journal of Anaesthesia, 118(1), 32-43.