Abstract
One of the unresolved global problems in the healthcare system is medication errors and the damage that is caused as a result. These mistakes can occur at any step of the patient treatment process, from unnecessarily prescribed medications to wrong dosages to issues with monitoring to lack of documentation and admission. In the United States, medication errors happen approximately once per day per patient, with up to 35% of these errors being life-threatening (Schmidt et al., 2017). Several interventions, new technologies, and policies are implemented each year to reduce the severity of this issue, yet it is still rampant in the US healthcare system. Medication errors cause significant harm to public health, both directly and indirectly. Not only do they negatively affect people’s health, but they also undermine the credibility of the healthcare system and impose an additional financial stress on it.
My interest in the problem of medication errors developed as a result of the communication with my two senior colleagues, a practicing nurse, and a pharmacist. First of them often observes a lack of accuracy in the instructions written by the health care staff in the hospital where she works. In some cases, she notices the tendency to lose attention during her own medicines administration that can potentially cause the appearance of the errors. She comments that it may be a result of the lack of awareness about possible mistakes and the absence of an authentic environment for the practice in her previous education. I agree with her opinion that future specialists’ core skills are to be developed as early as possible.
The second colleague, a pharmacist, complains that he is often obliged to deal with multiple errors in the prescriptions. In some cases, he can understand such issues; however, there could be more of them not identified by him. Besides, he states that the design of the drugs may sometimes lead to the confusion of the pharmacy staff while distributing them. I am aware that, as a future health care specialist, I must be prepared to encounter such difficulties and raise my awareness about them. Therefore, I am interested in the subject of medication errors and the research in this area. This essay provides an analysis of recent scientific articles that aim to highlight the crucial flaws in unsatisfactory outcomes related to medication errors and suggest a potential solution to the problem.
Identifying Academic Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
To find the necessary information, I used different tools, including the search engine Google Scholar and several digital libraries. In Google Chrome, I used keywords such as medication errors, medication administration, medication safety, medication errors education. By default, the majority of the links displayed by the engine are scholarly articles. I limited the time of their issue to have access to up-to-date sources issues after 2016. Google Chrome provides links to digital libraries, such as ScienceDirect and the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), which is a part of the United States National Library of Medicine. Both of these databases contain the waste body of the literature of health and medicine. Using advanced search, I determined years of publication and author-specified keywords.
Assessing Credibility and Relevance of Information Sources
I ensured the credibility of the selected sources, choosing peer-reviewed articles published within the past five years. First, I assessed the reliability of the journals that contain the articles by identifying their issuing bodies and the scope of the published materials. Second, I searched the information about their authors, making sure that they are recognized scholars in their field. Analyzing the content of the sources, I found that they contain evidence gained by the primary research or derived from credible sources. This factual information provides support for the authors’ arguments, making the sources reliable.
Annotated Bibliography
Cohen, M. (2016). Medication errors. Nursing, 46(2).
The article examines several real-life cases in which a medication error was identified and resolved before any damage has been done. These described mistakes were linked with drugs that were incorrectly labeled, bar-coded, or otherwise flawed in design. The paper contains a close-up view of these products and situations. Cohen (2016) concludes that the labels on packages must not be too tiny to read, must not look similar to other drugs, important parts of text must not be covered, and tamper seals must be improved. The main argument of the paper is that it is up to pharmacy staff and drug manufacturers to recognize and fix these mistakes. They lead to drugs being administered to the wrong patient, which can be harmful and potentially fatal.
Godshall, M., & Riehl, M. (2018). Preventing medication errors in the information age. Nursing, 48(9), 56–58.
This article investigates the reasons for medication errors in the hospital environment. It states that despite the implementation of new technologies, the importance of the human factors in medication administration should not be diminished. The authors examine automated dispensing systems and bar code technology, discussing the outcomes of their implementation. They state that “automated medication administration systems aren’t intended to replace nursing judgment” (Godshall & Riehl, 2018, p. 56). For example, the bar codes of the drugs are uploaded in the bracelets on hospitalized patients and are supposed to match with bar codes in the dispensing machine. However, in case of any fault of the dispenser, nurses often demonstrate excessive reliance on the technology, not intervening in the procedure. Therefore, despite the technological accuracy, other factors, such as “personal neglect, heavy workload, and staff turnover,” can be the reasons for remaining medication errors (Godshall & Riehl, 2018, p. 56).
The article provides future directions, aiming to reduce the number of medication errors. The technological implementations should be preserved in hospitals; however, improvement in the human resources area must be made. The authors make suggestions about the way of eliminating the existing problems, such as proper technical support that ensures maintenance of the computers and devices, so nurses do not need to deal with technological faults themselves. Adequate staffing is a prerequisite for the accuracy of the work, as “being short-staffed leads to shortcuts, which cause errors” (Godshall & Riehl, 2018, p. 57). Among all, the authors suggest contacting the pharmaceutical companies on the issues of readability and design of their medical products.
Kavanagh, C. (2017). Medication governance: Preventing errors and promoting patient safety. British Journal of Nursing, 26(3), 159–165.
In this article, several reasons for medication errors are investigated. Among all, the two factors not found in other sources are discussed, i.e., illegible prescriptions, and distractions in the nurses’ working process. About the first point, the author emphasized the “importance of the legislation governing nursing, and current standards and policies of regulatory bodies” (Kavanagh, 2017, p. 159). Regarding the second point, special measures implemented in nurses’ practice are described, such as “protected hour” for medicines administration, or using the table “do not disturb” sign on the trolley during the medication round. Overall, in preventing medication errors, the importance of health care professionals rather than technological progress is outlined in the article.
Latimer, S., Hewitt, J., Stanbrough, R., & McAndrew, R. (2017). Reducing medication errors: Teaching strategies that increase nursing students’ awareness of medication errors and their prevention. Nurse Education Today, 52, 7–9.
This article discusses the effects of classroom education about this healthcare problem on positive patient outcomes. Latimer et al. (2017) argue that the course provides “nurses with a systematic approach to checking, however internationally this nursing practice lacks standardization” (p. 7). The purpose of this scholarly paper is to determine how courses about medical safety affect future professional behavior.
The team of researchers designed several case studies and a unique program that focuses on dealing with areas where medical errors happen regularly. These classes aim to improve medication calculation competence and increase confidence in students, as well as provide them with an authentic environment to practice their skills (Latimer et al., 2017). This article presents findings on the complexity of teaching and further retaining of skills necessary to reduce human error in healthcare. The main argument of this paper is that raising awareness about medication errors is a crucial step in lowering the number of such incidents.
Schmidt, K., Taylor, A., & Pearson, A. (2017). Reduction of medication errors: A unique approach. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 32(2), 150–156.
This paper proposes an alternative way to report and assess medication errors in a hospital setting. Schmidt et al. (2016) state that “the goal was to identify changes that would be most value-added and would be easily implemented without significant change to nursing practice” (p. 152). After examining the list of medication errors from the past five years, the hospital’s safety committee proposed a set of new rules that were supposed to reduce their occurrence.
The main argument of the paper is that an improvement in technical and organizational factors of a healthcare facility can reduce the frequency of mistakes in personnel’s actions. The article’s findings suggest that the sociotechnical probabilistic risk assessment technique positively affects the number of medication errors, which were reduced by 22% during research in the studied setting (Schmidt et al., 2016). However, there were several complaints from personnel about additional stress from these measures, and the sustainability of such actions requires constant supervision (Schmidt et al., 2016). In summary, the stricter rules for staff and the mandatory use of electronic health records have a positive effect on human mistakes in a hospital setting, but they need to be adjustable and non-invasive.
Learnings from the Research
In conclusion, each of these articles strives to propose the best practice for various steps of patient care that are susceptible to medication errors. They show that a high number of mistakes are related to incorrect or lacking rules in many aspects of the treatment process. These papers also highlight the importance of knowledge, attention, and skills of medical staff. By reducing the number of human errors in the treatment process, the United States can alleviate the current issue of lacking confidence in healthcare facilities. Aiming for zero errors is a national priority, and this result is achievable with proper reforms in the healthcare system, improved education for future medical personnel, and widespread use of technological solutions.