Medication error, as defined by the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCC MERP), is “Any preventable event that may cause or leads to inappropriate medication use or harms the patient while the medication is in the control of the Health care Professionals, Patients or consumers”. (“Joshi M. C. and Roy V”, 2005)
Most of these medical errors take place in two basic stages involved in providing medication to the patient, i.e. prescribing and administration. The prescribing errors occur when the doctors do not refer to the patient’s case records properly or overlook the existence of any previous history of allergic reactions. Nurses also tend to contribute to these lapses while administering treatment, which according to research studies occur when they are interrupted while performing a task.
Most of these errors can be avoided if the medical professionals pay complete attention to the patient they have been treating. The long-term effect of such errors and their prevention can be explained better by using the documentary “Chasing Zero: Winning the War on Healthcare Harm” by Join Dennis Quaid and Dr. Charles Denham, which highlights the harms caused by the lapses in the healthcare sector.
The 50 minutes long documentary features various real life instances in which medical professionals failed to provide appropriate treatment. The documentary also provides inputs by the members of the effected families and balances it by providing insights about the leaders and practices that have been effective in “winning the war on healthcare harm.”
References
Joshi M. C. and Roy V.(2005). “Medication Errors: identification, prevention and implementation of safe medication practice, IJHP”, March 2005.page No.62.
George D. Pozgar (2012). “Legal essentials of health care administration”. 12 September 2012. Retrieved from http://www.jblearning.com/samples/0763761303/61301_FM.pdf
