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). A number of interventions, new technologies, and policies are implemented each year in order 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 they negatively affect people’s health, but they also undermine the credibility of the healthcare system and impose additional financial stress on it. 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.
The first related peer-reviewed article is “Medication Errors” by Michael Cohen. It 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 stuff 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.
The second scholarly article by Latimer et al. is called “Reducing medication errors: Teaching strategies that increase nursing students’ awareness of medication errors and their prevention.” The paper 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 on a regular basis. 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.
The third article to be reviewed is “Reduction of medication errors: A unique approach” by Schmidt et al. The 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 the 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.
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 with 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.
References
Cohen, M. (2016). Medication errors. Nursing, 46(2).
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.
Schmidt, K., Taylor, A., & Pearson, A. (2017). Reduction of medication errors: A unique approach. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 32(2), 150–156.