Introduction
Medication administration safety issues have been a major concern in hospital settings over the decades. The nursing professionals and clinical stakeholders have been at the forefront of minimizing the impacts associated with such situations that affect the well-being of the patients. A number of safety-related deaths have been reported, indicating how the challenge is vital and demands proper attention and evidence-based practices to curb them. Most patients have suffered severe injuries following wrong medication due to a lack of clear communication between the providers within the facility.
Patient Safety Risks in the Healthcare Setting
Patients have suffered serious harm following the administering of the wrong medicine to manage their disease condition. Even though medication error is a preventable event, the likelihood of its occurrence is alarming. The issue is not only a result of professional mistakes, but patients. The drug faults can be categorized as dose miscalculation, incorrect dosage, or form of prescription (Schroers et al., 2021). These multiple changes make it a safety issue that requires effective intervention to thwart the impacts it can cause to the patients, including multiple deaths. When the nurses in charge of the sick individual dispense the wrong drug, the life of the patient is exposed to more health risks following the reaction of the respective drug to the immune system of the person.
The wrong medication experience in healthcare is contributed by several factors. For instance, a staffing plan whereby the organizations have limited providers to handle the patients can lead to mistakes since some individual needs will be attended to roughly, ignoring finer and necessary details. According to Asensi-Vicente et al. (2018) improper communication between the nurses and patient-nurse makes it possible for the providers to miss important details about the medication. Poor administration policies that guide the nursing practices within the healthcare setting are capable of facilitating the occurrence of wrong medication. This is because, without effective rules, nurses might not remain proactive in their duties, creating room for such fault events. Moreover, lack of knowledge transfer, especially in hospitals, where new medics are contracted to provide care, can lead to errors in the medication process. Such professionals do not have adequate information about the institution; therefore, operating efficiently might be a significant challenge, forcing them to commit faulty mistakes.
In order to minimize the impacts of medication issues in healthcare settings, the providers can employ some fundamental evidence-based practices to improve patient safety. For instance, hospitals should adopt an electronic health record (HER) system to store patient data (Dendere et al., 2019). By using the approach, it will be easier for the nurses to trace the medical information of each sick individual before dispensing the drug to manage their health condition. The method will make it easier for the professionals to retrieve adequate details during their shift, thus leading to enhanced safety. Furthermore, the care providers should use a clear communication protocol between them and the patients. Engaging clients and inquiring about their progress and the type of drugs they have been using is essential in enabling the physician to comprehend the required treatment. Such involvement would be practical in reducing the occurrence of wrong medication and therefore improving the overall patient safety in the clinic. The procedure will allow the management to reduce the cost of managing and reducing the issue.
Proper coordination of care services by the providers has the potential to improve the safety of the patients during medication administration. The providers should share the patient care processes to ensure they are well-equipped with the relevant knowledge required. In addition, they should collaborate to ensure a personalized work plan that facilitates their practices to meet the needs of sick individuals. For instance, formulating an active timetable that guides nurses on their shift period will facilitate effective work transition, thus allowing providers to communicate and inform the incoming person on specific medicines to give the patient. Such coordinated work transition will ensure medication administration errors are minimized. Professionals to inform others on areas to manage, lowering possible errors (Jensen et al., 2018). Nurses engaging in such practices will minimize the chances of safety risks because all the required details will be available for the providers on duty. In order to reduce costs in the organization, nurses should provide accurate reports that enable the administration to make an effective decision, especially when purchasing necessities for care services.
To facilitate safety measures to minimize risks, nurses should engage the patients in the medication administration. When the respective individual is consulted, it will be easier to establish the progress of their treatment and the type of drugs they have been using. The approach will allow providers to identify the right medicines to manage the health condition. The other stakeholder needed to hence the coordination is the hospital administrators. The managers will assist in developing a proper plan on how the professionals can conduct their operations smoothly, including work transition. This will promote the ability of nurses to effectively organize care services to improve quality and patient safety.
Conclusion
Generally, patient safety risks are a major concern in the healthcare setting. Most sick individuals have suffered severe injuries following medication administration issues in the clinics. Problems such as wrong dosage and dispensing of incorrect medicine are some of the events that occur due to the lack of proper coordination of care services in the facility. To improve patient safety, nurses and other hospital stakeholders can employ evidence-based practices that offer an effective solution at a reduced cost.
References
Asensi-Vicente, J., Jiménez-Ruiz, I., & Vizcaya-Moreno, M. F. (2018). Medication errors involving nursing students: A systematic review. Nurse educator, 43(5), E1-E5.
Dendere, R., Slade, C., Burton-Jones, A., Sullivan, C., Staib, A., & Janda, M. (2019). Patient portals facilitating engagement with inpatient electronic medical records: A systematic review. Journal of Medical Internet research, 21(4).
Jensen, H. I., Larsen, J. W., & Thomsen, T. D. (2018). The impact of shift work on intensive care nurses’ lives outside work: A cross‐sectional study. Journal of clinical nursing, 27(3-4).
Schroers, G., Ross, J. G., & Moriarty, H. (2021). Nurses’ perceived causes of medication administration errors: A qualitative systematic review. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, 47(1), 38-53.