Medication Errors Due to Terminology Miscommunication

Medication errors occasionally occur in the healthcare practice and cause safety issues for patients. Miscommunication leading to medical errors might occur in interactions between the practitioners or between a healthcare worker and a patient. In particular, medication errors most commonly occur in practitioner-patient communication due to mixed-up terminology or non-clarity of instructions (Shitu et al., 2018).

An example of miscommunication of medical terminology for patient medication is presented in the article by Alomi et al. (2019). The researchers, among other errors, identified the lack of clarity in differentiating between oral and intravenous paracetamol administration to patients. The terms confused in this case are intravenous and oral intake, which, when missed or wrongly interchanged, might cause harm to patients. The practitioner might have clearly indicated the type of drug administration. Moreover, the nurses administering the drug might have clarified the type due to the lack of clarity.

To avoid miscommunication related to medical terminology, one should identify and minimize its causes. The most common reasons for miscommunication in the healthcare setting include high workloads causing practitioners’ limited caution, hand-writing of prescriptions, and the use of professional terms in communication with patients (Alomi et al., 2019; Shitu et al., 2018). Therefore, to minimize the occurrence of medication errors in my practice, I will ensure to engage in clear communication with patients and downgrade the language used for medication instructions to the knowledge of the patient.

During this course, I will do my best to learn more about the proper means of practitioner-patient communication to ensure that I deliver the messages to my clients in a clear manner. I will learn proper abbreviations, terminological synonyms, and the principles of inter-professional communication. In addition, I will practice using technical terms in professional teams and avoiding using them in my communication with patients to avoid ambiguity and guarantee the lack of medication errors.

References

Alomi, Y. A., Alshabaar, N., Lubad, N., & Albusalih, F. A. (2019). Inpatient medication errors and pharmacist intervention at Ministry of Health Public Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Pharmacology, Toxicology and Biomedical Reports, 5(1), 44-48.

Shitu, Z., Hassan, I., Aung, M. M. T., Kamaruzaman, T. H. T., & Musa, R. M. (2018). Avoiding medication errors through effective communication in healthcare environment. Movement, Health & Exercise, 7(1), 113-126.

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StudyCorgi. 2022. "Medication Errors Due to Terminology Miscommunication." November 5, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/medication-errors-due-to-terminology-miscommunication/.

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