Benchmark: Medication Error Essay

Benchmark: Medication Error Essay

Benchmark: Medication Error Essay

Medication errors are a major source of adverse healthcare occurrences that have a negative influence on care quality (Márquez-Hernández et al., 2019). Medication errors potentially account for up to a third of hospital-preventable adverse drug reactions. Furthermore, not all medication errors result in illness or death, but the relatively high prevalence makes it a problem worth addressing. Nurses are on the front lines of avoiding medication errors, and the first step is to raise awareness of the issue and develop measures to reduce errors and limit the harm if they do occur. The goal of this paper is to present a review of my practicum experience in terms of meeting the set goals, overcoming hurdles, and evaluating the outcome, among other criteria linked to the chosen topic of reducing medication errors.

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Project Goals

My major aim, according to the project premise, was to eliminate medication errors and enhance the health and economic results of clinical treatment in the hospital via a continuous quality improvement cycle (Lee & Quinn, 2019). Other project aims and objectives include improving the use of medication error prevention tactics, detection and auditing methods, and increasing the use of information technologies available to nurses.

Need for the Project

            To determine the project’s necessity, I first discovered and comprehended the areas in which my profession might be improved. I looked at my patient demographic to see if there were any obstacles to care, common chronic diseases, or groupings of high-risk patients (Irajpour et al., 2019). I next gathered pertinent data to better understand how effectively my systems function, identify possible areas for improvement, create measurable targets, and track the success of the change. Before beginning a quality improvement project, it is critical to gather baseline data, commit to frequent data collection, thoroughly assess your outcomes during the project, and make judgments based on your analysis.

            According to the collected data, medication errors were the most prevalent source of adverse healthcare occurrences that impacted the quality of care. Medication errors are common among hospitalized patients and can occur throughout the prescribing, translating, prescription auditing, preparation, dispensing, administering, and monitoring processes (Musharyanti et al., 2019). Near misses are errors that occurred but were discovered before they reached the patient, whereas pharmaceutical errors are errors that reach patients and endanger their safety. Understanding pharmaceutical errors are important because identifying their causes allows for targeted solutions.

Data demonstrate that adding barcode verification technology into an electronic drug administration system significantly decreased prescription delivery error. Before-and-after research found that teaching sessions on safe drug administration practices offered by a pharmacist were a fairly easy strategy to reduce medication errors (Escrivá Gracia et al., 2019). In a recent study, researchers created a checklist based on basic drug administration guidelines; nevertheless, they discovered that it was ineffective in reducing medical errors, indicating that more practical medication administration guidelines should be developed for clinical nurses to follow (Dirik et al., 2018). Although measures to reduce pharmaceutical errors have been described occasionally, complete quality initiatives on medical errors in major hospitals are uncommon.

Potential Barriers

My practicum experience went well and without incident. The majority of the healthcare experts in this company were really helpful and had excellent communication skills. The patients, on the other hand, were quite cooperative and eager to discuss their experience at the hospital, as well as the areas that they believed were not adequately addressed in terms of reported errors. As a result, I made certain that I demonstrated the necessary skills and competencies for promoting interdisciplinary collaboration, which was critical in this facility because the majority of patients were being cared for by clinicians from various healthcare disciplines including nurses, pharmacists, physicians, and psychiatrists (Irajpour et al., 2019). The organization has also embraced a servant leadership approach, which encourages initiatives like mine to improve critical thinking and decision-making abilities.

Evaluation Strategies

Project assessment can be performed while or after the project has been finished, and it entails examining several elements including time, expenditure, and resources employed (Lee & Quinn, 2019). The cost-benefit analysis approach was used for this project. It considers the expenses of a project and contrasts them with the outcomes and benefits that are predicted to be realized. Importantly, this does not have to be quantified in terms of income and may instead factor in other variables such as a lower frequency of prescription errors (Escrivá Gracia et al., 2019). The project evaluation plan consisted of three steps: establishing, disclosing, and monitoring goals and objectives that indicate if the program is progressing well; assessing the project initially and periodically to ensure inadequacies and potential areas for improvement; and allowing healthcare workers to take part in program assessment and enhancement.

Measurement of Project Outcome

My practicum project’s outcome measures will consist of the number of medication errors committed by nurses, the accident rate of medication errors, the percentage of medication administration errors associated with high-alert medications, the incident rate of adverse drug events related to high-alert medications, the frequency of omission, the patterns of adverse drug events with different severity ratings, the administration route, the times of incidence and identification of adverse drug events, and the relative percentage of adverse drug events (Márquez-Hernández et al., 2019).

This project is sustainable because eliminating prescription errors is critical to enhancing patient happiness and the overall quality and safety of healthcare delivered by the organization. The outcomes of this project may be used by the facility to determine whether its services are timely, efficient, safe, and of higher quality (Musharyanti et al., 2019). As a result, this project can assist the institution in identifying areas of weakness that require development to enhance patient-centered care. Furthermore, because the variable used in monitoring rates of medication errors may be adjusted dependent on the study purpose, this project can be deemed sustainable. The outcome will also differ depending on the degree of the adverse effects caused by the pharmaceutical errors, among other considerations.

Evaluation of Success

The success of this project will be determined by four major milestones. The first stage is to consider the project’s successes in terms of goals, following the specifications that were set to complete the project (Lee & Quinn, 2019). The second phase is gathering input from patients and staff members who were involved in the initiative at any time. The timelines and time spent on the project are addressed in the third stage. The last stage comprises the facility’s growth and satisfaction as a result of the project. So far, I consider my project to be a success because the requirements have been aligned suitably with the goals, both patients and staff members have shown a strong interest in participating in the project, the project schedule is adequate for collecting and analyzing all of the required data, and the project will assist in the creation of appropriate interventions aimed at reducing the occurrences of medication administration errors and promoting patient safety.

This project has presented possibilities for improvement, and the medication error rate has been greatly reduced thanks to the collaboration with nurses, physicians, and pharmacy personnel (Márquez-Hernández et al., 2019). The nurses’ efforts to reduce medication rates and adhere to the strategy contributed to their success. The nurses have worked hard to enhance the health outcomes of their patients, making subtle but important adjustments in their work during the medicine delivery procedure.

Conclusion

It is challenging to avoid all medication errors. Nevertheless, registered nurses play a critical role in decreasing and eliminating these errors. Although most medication errors are modest and do not harm patients, they need greater oversight and forethought. It is an ethical obligation to report medication errors to maximize the advantages of patient treatment. Consequently, it has the potential to enhance patient health and safety. Nurse management should take a constructive approach to nurses reporting medication errors. They should view error reporting as a chance to learn about the causes of problems. As a consequence, they will be able to investigate cause-and-effect correlations to provide better strategies for avoiding such mistakes.

References

Dirik, H. F., Samur, M., Seren Intepeler, S., & Hewison, A. (2018). Nurses’ identification and reporting of medication errors. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 28(5-6), 931–938. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.14716

Escrivá Gracia, J., Brage Serrano, R., & Fernández Garrido, J. (2019). Medication errors and drug knowledge gaps among critical-care nurses: a mixed multi-method study. BMC Health Services Research, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4481-7

Irajpour, A., Farzi, S., Saghaei, M., & Ravaghi, H. (2019). Effect of interprofessional education of medication safety program on the medication error of physicians and nurses in the intensive care units. Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 8(196). https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_200_19

Lee, S. E., & Quinn, B. L. (2019). Incorporating medication administration safety in undergraduate nursing education: A literature review. Nurse Education Today, 72, 77–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2018.11.004

Márquez-Hernández, V. V., Fuentes-Colmenero, A. L., Cañadas-Núñez, F., Di Muzio, M., Giannetta, N., & Gutiérrez-Puertas, L. (2019). Factors related to medication errors in the preparation and administration of intravenous medication in the hospital environment. PLOS ONE, 14(7), e0220001. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220001

Musharyanti, L., Claramita, M., Haryanti, F., & Dwiprahasto, I. (2019). Why do nursing students make medication errors? A qualitative study in Indonesia. Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences, 14(3), 282–288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtumed.2019.04.002

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Throughout your practicum experience, you have been designing and implementing a quality or safety improvement project. You will now assess that experience. Prior to beginning this paper, discuss the topics below with your preceptor. Include their feedback as well as your own.

In a 1,250-1,500-word document, discuss the following topics:

What was the focus of your practicum project? What were the goals you set?
How did you discover the need for this project? Describe how you found and interpreted the necessary data to identify your quality or safety improvement opportunity.
Discuss if you encountered any real or potential barriers during your practicum experience related to your project.
Outline the various evaluation strategies you used in the project. Explain why those strategies are most suitable for your project.
Discuss how the outcomes of your project will be measured. Is your project one that is sustainable or is it designed to be a single occurrence?
Evaluate the success of your project. If you were not able to implement your project, discuss why.
Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

Use a minimum of four peer-reviewed resources that are 5 years old or less as evidence to support your views.

This assignment uses a rubric. Review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.

NB; MY PROJECT TOPIC IS **MEDICATION ERROR***