Theories/Concepts in Professional Nursing
UNRS270
Medication administration is one of the many areas in nursing where critical thinking is essential in providing effective and safe care. According to Dictionary.com, the term critical thinking is defined as “disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence.” Without a clear understanding of my responsibilities, flexibility and the ability to analyze and rationalize surges of new information in the field of medicine and pharmaceuticals, I would be putting my patients at risk. These responsibilities include but are not limited to knowing the factors that influence pharmacokinetics as well as applying time-tested standards and systems that help prevent medication errors. My responsibility as a nurse is to ensure effective and safe treatment for those that fall within my sphere of care. When it comes to medication, administration the buck stops with me.
The intended use of medication is to alter the patient’s physiology and have the desired therapeutic effect. It is very important the nurse administering the medication, administers it correctly, by following the instruction for the medication prescribed. Doctors do the prescription for the nurses to administer the medication. Just as important is the ability to instill trust through knowledge and confidence in performing your job duties. Nursing responsibilities for drug administration include the six rights of medication administration. It is the nurse’s responsibility to know the details of a drug and its prescriptions to patients. Similarly, it is also the responsibility of the nurse to know the side effects and contraindications for the medication. Pertinently, nurses need to know the dose range, interactions with other drugs, precautions to take before administering the drug and proper administration techniques. Many of the tasks of nursing carry some degree of risk, with medication administration having one of the greatest risk factors.
Nurses are the key players charged with the medication administration although others such as the members of the family and physicians can administer it. Medication administration involves several activities such as the diagnosis, treatment, and even prevention of the illness. The wrong administration can lead to adverse health of the patients, and this is why the qualified personnel should do the administration. The pediatric medication administration focuses on the anatomical and psychological features of the patient as well as the pediatric pain management. Essentially, this involves the reactions of the different patients to a specific medication and that forms the basis of issuing the medication. The geriatric medication administration is mostly done to the special cases especially to the elderly people.
Nurses are responsible for carrying out doctors’ orders on a routine basis. The nurse’s role is one that leads to either failure or success in the medication process. When administering medication, the most common cause of errors is when there is poor communication, problems reading directions, handwriting misunderstood, job stress and poor working environment. The increasing demands and patient ratios during a workload can increase the chances of drug errors. Being overworked can affect concentration and competence, which can be exacerbated by erratic working hours. Checking drug calculations for miscalculations, over-dosing and under-dosing can mitigate the medical administration errors. Bar Code scanning for Medication Administration, this is a valuable tool, providing safe practice needed to reduce medication errors leading to safer patient handling. This system has increased patient safety by system validation of the six rights of medication administration. According to Porter et al the right medication, the right dose, the right patient, the right route, the right time and the right documentation are the key in the process of administration.
In addition, the nurse is responsible for evaluating a patient to determine the potential of prolonging the medication duration. Usually, there is excretion of metabolized medications, which occur after administering treatment. The nurse can evaluate the amount of medication that goes into excretion through assessing bowel, exocrine glands, mammary glands and the skin depending on the type of medication a patient receives. Noticeably, lactation is a pertinent consideration because in circumstances of a breastfeeding infant, the drug metabolites may find their way into the body of the infant and cause poisoning or death. Patient assessment involves a complete physical exam, pain score and vital signs. For physical assessment, the focus is on a specific value or system. For example, a nurse needs to check the patient’s heart rate before administering antihypertensive drugs.
In conclusion, while the workload issues with nurses are increasing, there has never been a better time to pay close attention to avoid making medication errors. Nurses have a responsibility continuing education regarding all policies and guidelines associated with medication administration. Continuing education, assessment of competency skills, effective teaching, and learning about medication errors lead to an increase in safe, effective, patient care. The understandings of the job requirement are vital in the minimization of the medication errors in the administration.
References
Medical administration. (2003). In Merriam-Webster's dictionary (11th ed.). Springfield, MA:
In Potter, P. A., In Perry, A. G., In Stockert, P. A., & In Hall, A. (2013). Fundamentals of nursing (8th edd). Canada.
