Essays on Medication Errors

HITECH legislation and its primary goals

Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 forms part of a stimulus package that was approved as law in order to champion the use of EHR (electronic health records). Electronic health records possess the capacity to transform the health care sector from a largely paper based sector to reliance on clinical information and other sources of information in assisting the providers to deliver higher levels of quality care to patients (Beasley and Sinsky, 2014). At its core, HITECH has five primary objectives. First, HITECH seeks to augment quality, the safety, efficacy of health care ...

Question 1

Types of Nonverbal Communication There are different ways through which individuals can communicate nonverbally. Gestures, physical distance/personal space, facial expressions, and posture are examples of non-verbal communication techniques (Burgoon & Guerrero, 2013). Gestures can be touching behaviors, agreed-on signs, or signs that accompany verbal communication (Burgoon & Guerrero, 2013). Also known as proxemics, maintaining personal space and physical distance when communicating plays a critical role in passing a message. Proxemics also determines the settings and environment under which people communicate, for example, public, social, personal, or intimate spaces (Burgoon & Guerrero, 2013). Facial expressions can be used to communicate happiness, sadness, disappointment, ...

Problem Statement

During my practice in the cardiac care unit of 20- bed hospital, I witnessed that most nurses were stressed due to overtime and work- pressure as the ratio of patient to nurse for patient care delivery was 4:1. Such ratios exert huge pressure on the nurse as he/ she has to be attentive to each of her patient as and when needed. Additionally, cardiac care unit’s demands nurses to be highly attentive as most patients admitted need frequent help due to their critical condition. Such situations in which nurses have to handle so many patients’ single- handed increases ...

1.0 Without putting the figures you cited into a spreadsheet, it is quick to appreciate the fact that the medical costs of obesity is clearly higher than the cost of implementing the research project. The net obesity cost (NOC)-to-project implementation cost (PIC) ratio of 10.2 [$1,429 / $140] is convincingly high. A patient’s annual savings from obesity cost can virtually finance this project implementation estimate. However, it is unclear to us if the cost of implementing the proposed exercise prescription protocol (EPP) or the actual implementation of EPP by the patient, using the necessary equipment and ...

Dear Senator/Representative (Legislator’s Name):

As a leader of a non-profit health care organization, I would like to respectfully express my views and observations about the current health care status in our country. In particular, medication administration procedures. I would also like to call your attention about my goal in promoting a safer health care system for the benefits of all patients across our country. I agree that the reform in our health care system may have been long overdue. It feels great to know that our government is exerting its efforts to improve the overall system through health care reform laws. However, I ...

Literature Reading

Literature Reading Nursing profession is faced with several issues concerning care practices including the mandatory overtime imposed on nurses. However, both positive and negative perceptions about mandatory overtime appear in various studies about its effect on work efficiency and patient safety. The following literatures provide significant insights on the issue of mandatory overtime based on the findings encompassing both the qualitative and quantitative methods. Bae, S. (2013). Presence of nurse mandatory overtime regulations and nurse and patient outcomes.Nursing Economics, 31(2), 59-89. Retrieved from https://www.nursingeconomics.net/ce/2015/article31025989.pdf Mandatory overtime imposed among nurses is a prevalent practice in order to address the ...

Communication in Healthcare Teams

Complementary Roles, Decision Making and Shared Responsibility Effective communication is necessary to be incorporated in the healthcare teams in order to ensure the enhanced wellbeing of patients by means of developing and implementing the patient care plans in an effective manner. The effective implementation of the care plans is based on the shared responsibility of the healthcare teams or multidisciplinary teams, in which the individual members of these teams are responsible to provide care to the patients. The patients in the intensive care units or long-term residential facilities require services from the individuals of different departments and team members, ...

A recent quality improvement process implemented in the correctional facility that I practice in was aimed at reducing medication errors in treatment regimens. The data for this was gathered by accessing the records on medication errors, and then comparing these results with the number of medication errors after the quality improvement measure was implemented. This was a fairly simple procedure because the records were already existing, and it just required the implementation of a new barcode system to allow for comparing results. The data gathered was used to make an assessment of whether this new barcode system had a ...

The Ethical and Legalities of Medication Disclosure Error

In nursing, it is quite uncommon that patients are sometimes exposed to risks of particular harms. Such harms may be erroneous and unintentional. The errors in a sense may be unpredictable and a proper informed consent may not be easily obtained. Some prescription errors might not necessarily materialize to harm while others could be fatal. This paper is going to look into the ethical and legalities of prescription disclosure error by a nurse and the proper way to write a prescription while minimizing the possibility of a nurse running into an error. When an error occurs during the process ...

‘Culture of safety’ at Kendall Regional Medical Center

While analyzing the efficiency of Kendall Regional Medical Center based on how well it has accomplished a ‘culture of safety’ that focuses on addressing systemic/process rather than individual errors, it seems that the organization deserves B grade. It is identified that recently the organization has taken a number of initiatives to improve its process efficiency. The major ongoing initiatives include preventing blood clots in patient’s legs following a surgery, achieving time-oriented emergency care, enhancing care competencies through staff training programs. These initiatives would assist Kendall Regional Medical Center to establish a culture of safety in the organization and ...

IOM Core Competencies

The Committee of Institute of Medicine incorporates the core competencies that are required to be acquired by the nursing professionals in order to enhance the quality of care. The current paper aims to enlighten the core competencies by the IOM in order to develop the SMART goals and direct towards the action plan for the effective execution of the objectives. The selected IOM core competencies are as follows: “To contribute in the team work by means of integrating the observations, bodies of expertise, spheres of decision making in order to coordinate, communicate and collaborate with one another so that ...

In this paper, I look into the issue of ‘medication errors in home care’. A study published by the journal of Quality and Safety in Health Care, reported the alarmingly high prevalence of medication errors among elderly patient placed in home care in U.K. Home care is normally provided by medic aides and not by nurses. Medic aides are entrusted with the responsibility of administering the prescribed drugs, at the correct time and at the correct dose to the patients. In order to perform this role, they need training that helps them familiarize with drug name, uses and side ...

The execution of a medical procedure requires the coordination of various health practitioners such as nurses, pharmacists, and physicians. It begins with the doctor’s decision to administer the appropriate medicine to a sick person and ends with the provision of the drugs and frequent monitoring of the patient’s response to the medication. Nurses play a vital role in administering the medical process. Hence, there is a need to ensure that the responsibilities they carry out are conducted in a proper manner by eliminating errors. This essay conceptualizes on the factors that result in medication discrepancies in clinical ...

Abstract

Medication errors are common medical errors in healthcare settings that often lead to patient harm. Medication errors transpire during ordering, administration, and transcription of medications. Healthcare information technology is a promising strategy for prevention of these errors. In this paper, an article that reports on the application of technology to prevent medication errors was analyzed. The article is entitled “Effect of bar-code technology on the safety of medication administration”. It is authored by Poon et al. (2010) and reports on the methods and findings of a study that examined the impact of the use of eMAR technology on rates ...

Analysis of New Article in Current Technology to prevent Medication Errors

Introduction In America, medication errors are common and are often associated with significant financial and clinical consequences. Worldwide, the prevention of drugs blunders has become highly prioritized. Therefore, the introduction of new healthcare technologies into the system of healthcare can improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of medical care. Besides, medication errors are known to take place at any point in the medication use process. Therefore, being dedicated to technology innovation as well as patient safety has played a crucial role in preventing medication errors. Consequently, this paper will analyze the current technology put to use to prevent medication ...

Medication errors have been one of the leading causes of iatrogenic illnesses in patients, and they are said to cause harm and results in additional costs to both the patient and medical facilities. Every year, 3.8 million inpatient admissions cases are reported with preventable medication errors whereas 3.3 million outpatient visits are reported (Runciman et al. 2003). These errors occur as a result of dosing errors, high volume of medications that are dispensed to the patient and also due to harmful drug interactions and drug allergies. These medication errors can be prevented if some steps are taken in incorporating ...

According to the institute of medicine (IOM) medical error occurs due to failure to complete a planned action as intended. A lot of lives are lost due to medical errors that can otherwise be prevented (Ehteshami et al., 2013). This has forced the Joint Commission and institute for safe medication practices to adopt new technologies that can help health care professionals to prevent these medication errors. The goals of these technologies are to improve the administration of medication and patient identification. Technology has proved to be the best method to improve the safety of the patients. In United States, ...

Introduction

Outreach programs led by a registered nurse are known to have a significant impact on the quality of care and health outcomes of patients (Toyce, et al. 2015). Nurses involved in post-discharge care such as home safety evaluation, medication compliance, and patient education have a positive impact on patient outcomes (Toyce, et al. 2015). Most patients do not follow instructions laid by the healthcare professional post-discharge which leads to non-compliance and readmission. This problem can be solved by a nurse-led outreach program that helps patients in various activities at home, thus improving health outcomes and reduced readmission rates. Nurses ...

Introduction

One of the major healthcare delivery issues that has impacted patients on ethical grounds is the rapid shortage of medications. Shortage of drugs has also impacted healthcare professionals and the healthcare system owing to regulatory issues, raw material disputes, and manufacturing problems (Ventola, 2011). The shortage of drugs has led to the substitution of safe and effective drugs with alternate, compromised, and ineffective treatments. The burden of shortage has a direct impact on medication errors, healthcare professionals, and finances of healthcare facilities (Ventola, 2011). Drug shortages comprise the overall quality of care and significantly impact the healthcare system. In ...

Application: The Ethics and Legalities of Medication Error Disclosure

When making an unintentional error in prescribing a drug to a patient, and considering the ethics of disclosure and nondisclosure, there are many implications that can come as a result of such an action. From an ethical standpoint, the ANA Code of Ethics is quite clear; in the case of an error, “nurses are expected to follow institutional guidelines in reporting errors committed or observed to the appropriate supervisory personnel” (2010). From a legal standpoint, errors are equally maligned; in the state of Texas, the Texas Board of Nursing states their belief that “protection of the public is not enhanced by the reporting ...

Abstract

This study analyzes the benefits and challenges of implementing an electronic medical system in both hospital and clinic environments. The overall research problem addressed in this study is determining how to effectively manage and communicate expectations associated with perceived benefits and challenges derived from a new install of an electronic medical record. The purpose of this study is to analyze perceptions associated with both the benefits and challenges derived from installing an electronic medical record system. This problem is relevant to many such as those who ...

In the case study examined, the patient was vomiting intermittently in postoperative care while receiving Morphine intravenously. The patient’s nurse Pamela is not responsible or trained for prescribing medication, so she decides to seek advice from a senior nurse. The senior nurse Jane orders Pamela to cease the Morphine administration and changes the protocol to 10mgs of Metoclopramide. While Pamela stops the Morphine administration, she refuses to administer Metoclopramide without a prescription. Despite the warnings against administering regulated medication, Jane proceeds to act on her decision and administers the Metoclopramide intravenously, which causes the patient to respond with an allergic ...

Introduction

It is an integral part of communication in healthcare to transfer critical information and the responsibility of the patient from one health care provider to another. Such transfer points are called handoff. “An effective handoff supports the transition of critical information and continuity of care and treatment.” These handoffs have been found to be particularly hazardous, and particularly involve missing, incomplete, or inaccurate information and are also associated with adverse events. According to , medication errors are a major cause of injury to hospital patients, and it has been found that more than half of all the hospital medication errors ...

Medication errors can have potentially serious consequences for patients and healthcare workers. For patients, they can lead to serious injuries, disability, and even death (Hashemi, 2007). For healthcare workers, they can lead to withdrawal of practicing licenses and other disciplinary actions. The indictment of three registered nurses for negligent homicide following the death of a newborn occasioned by a medication error in 1997 ushered in a chilling novel level of disciplinary action: criminal prosecution. This paper will discuss emerging issues related to an instance of medication error that resulted in criminal charges against the nurses who were involved. The incident involved three ...

An EHR system is an electronic health records system that stores all the medical information about a patient. The system is a digital version of keeping records that can be located at any moment. When accessed, the system will show the medical journey of a patient, from a previous diagnosis, allergies, the medication they have been given and the laboratory test results. Because of this, the system helps in promoting the management of the risks that occur with errors on medication. In addition, the systems operate on a digital network that makes it easy for any healthcare to access information about a patient at any ...

Medication errors are estimated to cause approximately 7000 deaths annually and cost approximately $2 billion in added health care spending. Improving the safety outcomes of medication-use processes in hospitals has been cited as a means of addressing this issue. Careful and planned use of information technology is a proven approach to solve a majority of medication errors made with paper-based systems (Paoletti et al., 2007). These systems have been found to provide much better compliance with the “five rights” of medication administration: right patient, right dose, right route, right time, and right medication (Hook, 2008). Accordingly, the present paper describes a test ...

The lack of standard procedures set in healthcare management especially those related to decision making have given numerous problems to the healthcare industry. This in turn affected not only the healthcare practioners but their patients and clients as well. The healthcare industry has been getting the bulk of funding from the government. Data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary, National Health Statistics Group shows that the healthcare expenditures of the United States is more than $2 trillion dollars budget compared to the federal government’s budget of $3 trillion (HealthCareProgram.org, 2013). This should ...

The rates of medication errors have been on a significant rise in the past few decades in the healthcare sector despite the numerous approaches to combat these errors and their adverse effects. These medication errors result into more than 7, 000 deaths annually as well as other complications which are all preventable. The choice of this article was highly pegged on the realization that medications errors have become a pertinent issue in clinical practice and that nurses despite the population under blame for the increasing rates of errors and near misses can provide an effective solution to this clinical problem. However, ...

Information systems project management plan for implementing

This assignment is being submitted on July 19, 2015 Project Definition The project definition phase is further classified into stating the project scope, establishing project priorities in terms of time to be taken, costs to be incurred and performance quality and creating a work breakdown structure, along with cost estimate for the project implementation.

Project Scope

Project objective: To implement the Electronic Medication management (EMM) at the district health centre, within next 6 months and assuring overall costs to not exceed $1, 00,000.

Key Deliverables: The key deliverables from the chosen product can be classified as:

Post implementation EMM coverage across the complete medication cycle of the centre, comprising of doctor’s ...

You must use this template!! Do not change the headings – including their numbers.

Page limit: 3 pages (not including title page and references) You must stay within the page limit: In this class, students are required to keep the page limit so they can improve their writing skills - many grants, journals, clients have very strict page/word limits (submissions that are longer are often not accepted/admitted for review). So hopefully after this class, students will be better prepared for this challenge:) Grading rule: for each additional page (over the page limit) 1-2 points are deducted – this rule is enforced so the grading is fair for all the students

Tables and Figures: All Tables/Figures must have a title.

APA: ...

Summer Quarter, 2015

1. Logic Model 1.1. Description of your goal for your SPP The SPP’s goal is educating healthcare professionals about medication errors. This will ensure that they are well informed to prevent medication errors, which would reduce the related effects (Fertman & Allensworth, 2010). 1.2. Explanation of the value of a logic model as a programming tool for your SPP Through the use of a logic model, managers have an easier method of defining work as well as measuring it. The steps can be used to draw the performance measures. Its major insight is the significance of measuring the ...

Feelings of powerlessness are a common occurrence in nursing. These feelings can be attributed to the high demands of the job, including the long hours, changing shifts, the emotional rollercoasters, and the acute changes in patient status. Additionally, many hands are involved in the patients’ cases that make different decisions and the nurse may feel like he/she is not in control of what is happening at the bedside. Furthermore, policy changes within the institution are enacted by other personnel who often do not ask employees their thoughts and opinions on the matter. To decrease the feelings of powerlessness, many units ...

Introduction

Research, according to Burns and Grove (2011), means to examine carefully. In essence, it is a diligent, systematic study, which refines or validates existing knowledge or develops new knowledge. Planning, organization and persistence are the key underpinnings of a diligent and systematic study. The main objective of nursing research is to develop an empirical body of knowledge for this profession. In addition, Burns and Grove (2011) contend that reading and critiquing research studies requires learning of new terms, understanding the steps of the research process and applying a variety of analytical skills. This paper critiques a study conducted by Karavasiliadou and Athanasakis (2014), ...

The importance of Health Information Technology (HIT) to the healthcare sector cannot be overemphasized. The availability of information as well as the ability to exchange this information is very crucial to the efficient delivery of care across all levels of the health care system. These levels involve different stakeholders that include the care team, patients, and health care organizations among others, which in totality comprise a political, economic system. The diagnosis and effective treatment of patients depend on the capacity of care providers, whether individual medical practitioners or large healthcare organizations to access three main types of medical related or ...

Introduction

Medication process is the series of steps involved in the administration of medication to patients. The process begins from prescription to monitoring and evaluation of the effect of the drug on the patient. A number of health professionals are involved at different stages of the process with physicians participating in the initial stages and nurses at later stages as they are the ones who administer the medication to patients. It is, therefore, important that an effective coordination be ensured so that the process is free of medication errors. Medication errors refer to occurrences of avoidable nature that may harm ...

Medication processes entail the cooperation of healthcare professionals such as a physician, pharmacists and nurses that play major roles in medication processes. The procedure usually starts from the physician's prescription, towards pharmacist’s administration and then the nurses' contribution towards monitoring and administration to the patients. We need to understand that along these medication processes is where medication errors tend to occur. This is a major concern for both the patients and healthcare professional. According to the definition of the American National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCC MERP), the medication error can be defined as "as ...

Medical error refers to wrong administration of medication with the intention of healing. Medication errors have serious direct and indirect harm to the patient. The medication errors arise from various parts but mostly they arise because of system breakdown. The medication errors lead to many costs. The direct costs include direct harm to the patient. It sometimes even leads to loss of lives and disability. It leads to loss of income through the need for replacements. It leads to loss of assurance in the health care professionals. The satisfaction of the patients and the practitioners reduces. The patients who ...

Abstract

Patients put immense trust in the healthcare providers, and in return expect safety in their hands. Healthcare Informatics, and electronic health records in particular goes a long way in ensuring their safety. The EHR improves care through safer, more accurate and complete information being shared among all the healthcare providers. Wait times for appointments - procedures, and access to community care facilities - are reduced. So are for the laboratory test results and clinical diagnosis. The electronic systems also ensure enhanced security of health information through encryption. It also allows doctors access to secured patients’ information. These include patient physicals, ...

Introduction:

- The impact of medication/dosage calculation

Position: Nursing faculty improves student performance with medication/dosage calculation

Body: Relevant information - importance of medication and dosage calculation - types of calculations - A clear connection between nursing faculty and medication/ dosage calculation

Conclusion

- Summary - Recommendation based on the reviewed literature.

References

The sources used included at the end of this paper Introduction Dosage calculation is the computation of the amount of medication to be administered in a required dose, strength and unit volume. Calculations are significant sources of medication errors (Cowan, 2009). The patient safety depends on the practitioner ability to calculate dosage accurately and ...

Introduction

As technology continues to advance every single day, health care systems are also advancing together with this technology. One aspect of heath care system that has witnessed massive advancement is the Electronic Health Record Systems, usually abbreviated as EHR. Electronic Health Records refers to a record of a patient’s health information and history generated and stored in electronic databases. The information may be in regards to aspects such as allergies, x-rays medications, immunizations amongst others. More and more health institutions are adopting this brand of health technology and abandoning the traditional methods recording health data that involve manual paperwork and ...

How nurses can use the change process effectively to promote positive outcomes in healthcare environments

The current healthcare environment has a number of challenges that are affecting the nursing profession. According to Tomajan (2012), rising cost of healthcare, shortage of nurses, technology and increasing patient population are among some of the challenges that are affecting the healthcare environment. However, these challenges present an opportunity for nurses to develop and promote the nursing profession through advocacy. Advocacy can only be effective if nurses work in collaboration with one another and other professions, which influence the healthcare environment. For instance working in collaboration with the information technology sector can greatly help in improving the development of technology ...

Abstract

Medication errors are still experienced in clinical settings in spite of the current technological advancements. Nurses play a crucial role in the provision of care including medical therapy to patients. In line with this, they ought to be trained on how to avoid medication errors. In this paper, a case scenario in which a nurse administers wrong vaccines to two patients with similar names is assessed. In addition, it gives strategies that can be used to prevent the occurrence of such a medication error. Nursing leadership, minimization of communication barriers between patients and nurses, a decent duty delegation process and the championship of patients’ ...

Abstract

The topic of this paper is regarding the effects of the nursing shortage on patient safety and adverse events. Due to the nursing shortage, there is an increase inare registered more patient adverse events and there is increasedthe risk to the patient’s safety increased. If the nursing shortage problem is not correctedsolved, then there will be a continuance ofcontinue increase in the risk to patient safety risk , andas well as harm to the patient. In the paper there is provided Aan explanation of the nursing shortage, the its cause of the shortage, how the shortageit affects patient safety, and ...

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 ...

Change Theory

Evidence emanating from a host of studies suggests that computerized prescriber ordering system (CPOE) help to reduce the relative risk for medication errors. In so doing, they help to reduce associated adverse events and extra costs (Radley, 2012; Ammenwerth et al., 2008). CPOE entails implementation of an e-prescribing system. Their implementation is a key requirement of the 2009 Healthcare Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH). All hospitals are expected to have complied with this standard by 2015 failure to which they will be penalized (Radley et al., 2012). The purpose of this paper is to discuss application of ...

For hospitalized patients how does computerized physician order entry (CPOE) compare with common paper system to reduce medication errors during hospital stay

CONTEXT OF CPOE AND MEDICATION ERRORS

Medication errors are issues that surface in the hospital settings. For long, the use of the common paper system for patients’ order entries has contributed to many of the medication errors recorded in the hospital settings. The context in which the use of the CPOEs can be observed is when the use of then common paper system in the medical settings leads to continual medication errors during hospital system. The medication errors could include overlooked allergies and ...

Langley Mason Health is an example of a hospital struggling to achieve it growth agenda amid financial constraints, need to provide quality services, and implementation challenges. The hospital is undertaking expansion projects that are estimated to cost $1 billion. Already, the hospital has sourced a half of this capital and is expected to raise the remaining amount through operations and other sources. LMH is left with $10 million per year to finance other expenditure that include maintenance and technology. The nursing staff and the pharmacy need $4.9 to buy smart pumps aimed at reducing medication errors. The computerized provider order entry ( ...

Care Approach

Context of the Problem According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) (2014), the US is projected to face a shortage of nurses, which will intensify as baby boomers begin to age, making the need for healthcare to grow. This shortage is expected to grow and spread across the US from 2009 to 2030, despite recessions when jobs are normally few. One of the factors that will contribute to the shortage is the recurring problem of nurse turnover. It has been noted that there have been a problem in healthcare organization’s retention focuses to prevent nurse turnover ...

Pharmacists are one of the important medical staff in different settings in order to provide adequate medical assistance to their clients. There are various pharmacy settings in which pharmacists themselves must be aware of the roles they need to play so as to prevent medical errors.

Pharmacists’ Role and Different Settings

Retail Pharmacy One of the pharmacy settings is the Retail Pharmacy. This setting is an independent pharmacy, which includes, but not limited to supermarket and chain pharmacy. Retail pharmacies have the license to dispense medicines to the general customers. However, this type of setting does not involve dispensing prescription medications either through ...

Implementation Plan for Nurses in Addressing

Implementation Plan for Nurses in Addressing Medication Errors The problem with medication errors has been around for many years and is considered a serious healthcare concern in the US which may be responsible for the death or injury of a patient. While preventing medication errors may be simple, bringing it to public light has helped accomplish some improvements. Despite several countermeasures to alleviate the rampant problem, complete eradication of medication errors still remains a big challenge. Medication errors have come to public attention upon the release of the report done by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1999 entitled ...

The alarming physician, nursing and pharmacist shortage may affect greatly on patient safety. Technology can be useful in a number of ways to better handle this shortages while at the same time help ensure patient safety. Additionally, technologies are aimed at increasing the productivity of hospital staff, improving the work environment and ensure that most of the main concerns are handled with ease. However, one needs to view technology as a method or facilitator for the current problems and not a solution to the nursing and physician shortages. The use of electronic health records has significantly assisted in the provision of ...

Stetina, Pamela - Groves, Michael - Pafford, Leslie. (2005). Managing medication errors - a qualitative study. MEDSURG Nursing, 14 (3). 174-178. The purpose of the study was to examine the management of medication errors by practicing nurses by exploring the ways which the nurses describe medication errors, how they make decisions concerning the reporting of medication errors, and finally, how their day-today practices is affected by medication errors. The research submitted that, 44,000 to 98,000 individuals people die every year in hospitals as a result of preventable medical errors. Medication errors results to increased in-patient costs increased lengths ...

Introduction

Medication errors are likely to exist until clinicians and nurses remain humans. The question is what medical staff and nurses should do in case medication error occurs. In this regard ethical and legal implications of disclosure and non-disclosure of the information concerning medication error are most often being discussed. Although vast majority of medical specialists consider it necessary to disclose medication errors to patients, in reality many doctors and nurses may prefer not to disclose this information, thus placing their own interests over the ones of the patient (Mazor, Reed, Yood, Fischer, Baril and Gurwitz, 2006, p.74). For the ...

Introduction

In the current dynamic world, there is a huge need for organizations to avail a method of syncing various consumer related information so as to avail quality customer service. This is particularly very vital in the healthcare sector where even the smallest bit of information can play a significant role in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of patients. This paper aims to explore an example of a technology in the healthcare sector that has enabled the syncing of patient related information between various healthcare providers. The technology in question is Health Information Exchange commonly abbreviated as HIE. The paper will begin by defining ...

Discuss the relative advantage of using a pointing device to enter a patient's vital signs compared with simply typing in the values using a keyboard. Interface design is critical in enhancing patient data entry. Physicians using different interfaces easily get frustrated with interfaces or input devices that can be labor intensive. Pointing devices offer a range of significant features or abilities that can allow the user to input easily data such as a patient’s vital signs. Using pointing devices allows the user to move easily from patient record to patient record and from documentation to documentation. The pointing device as compared when ...

Fall A2013

Abstract The security of patients in hospitals has constantly attracted aggressive controversies. Most people agree that all efforts must be pulled together to ensure that the safety and security of the patients is guaranteed. However, in an institution struggling with increased amounts of medication errors and the implementation of the electronic medical record (EMR), ensuring safety of the patients becomes a serious challenge to many institutions. The nature of security required calls for the people to implement solutions that should match the expectations of the patients in their security at the hospitals. The level of technology used in the ...

Report Supporting Purchase of an

Executive Summary The present report provides the support and justification for the purchase of an electronic medication administration records (eMAR) system for the hospital. Medication errors are a serious concern within the business of healthcare and information technology is now available to address the issues causing many of the more egregious problems in this area. In particular, eMAR systems have proven to increase the chances of the right patient receiving the right medication in the right dose through the right route at the right time. These aspects of patient care are fundamental to high quality and are too important ...

Abstract

Medication errors is a more common situation that imagined. With 1.5 million American sickened, injured or killed annually, due to medication errors, it is essential that we move forward with a solution that could save people’s lives and the nation’s extra $3.5 billion in medical costs. Medication errors occur for various reasons, mainly due to dose mix-ups, harmful drug interactions and unclear prescriptions, during the prescribing medication process and during patient transitions. Good news is that all medication errors can be prevented with proper measures and education for both health care providers and patients alike. A win-win, two-way sided ...

Electronic Medication Administration Record System

Research Supporting the Purchase of an Electronic Medication Administration Record System

Introduction

Medication errors in the United States are estimated to cause approximately 7000 deaths annually and cost approximately $2 billion in added health care spending. Improving the safety outcomes of medication-use processes in hospitals has been cited as a means of addressing this issue. Careful and planned use of information technology is a proven approach to solve a majority of medication errors made with paper-based systems (Paoletti et al., 2007). Computer-based systems have been found to provide much better compliance with the “five rights” of medication administration: right patient, right dose, ...

1. State how this adverse event could have been prevented. Adherence to protocols, policies and standards regarding medication administration prevents medication errors (Breeding et al., 2013). Prior to administering any medication, the six rights of medication administration must be fulfilled: right drug, right dose, right route, right time, right patient and right documentation. Upon procurement of the medication, drug label information must be compared with the prescription on the chart to ensure that they match. Visual comparison prevents errors from drugs that sound and look the same. To avoid confusion, studies show that it is best to check ...