Analyzing a Current Health Care Problem or Issue

According to Alqenae et al. (2020), the problem of medication errors is prevalent in many healthcare facilities globally. They occur during different stages of treatment in the hospital. When they occur, they have negative impacts on the patient. They can increase morbidity and mortality rates, decrease recovery times and prolong hospital stays (Alqenae et al., 2020). This paper describes medication errors, identifies the causes of medication errors, discusses interventions to minimize medication errors, and identifies applicable ethical principles.

Health Care Problem and Possible Causes

The problem of medication errors is common in healthcare facilities. Data demonstrates that more than 110,000 medication errors are reported in the USA annually (FDA, 2019). Medication errors are the leading cause of morbidities and mortalities that can be averted in the healthcare setting (Alqenae et al., 2020). The three main types of medication errors include prescribing errors, dispensing errors, and administration errors (Alqenae et al., 2020). Medication prescription errors are commonly committed by physicians. This occurs when a medication is prescribed irrationally. An example is prescribing medicine with the wrong indication, wrong dosage, wrong dosing frequency, and wrong route of administration (Manias et al., 2020). Furthermore, irrational prescribing can occur when prescriptions are made without adequate past medication history (Alqenae et al., 2020). This increases the likelihood of drug allergic reactions and drug toxicity resulting from polypharmacy.

Dispensing errors are commonly committed by pharmacists. They include failure to screen the prescriptions thoroughly to identify drug interactions, wrong dosages or dosing frequencies, polypharmacy, and inadequate patient counselling (Naseralallah et al., 2020). In addition, dispensing errors can be mechanical. Examples of such errors are giving inaccurate information concerning the medication, dispensing wrong dosages, dispensing the wrong drug, or wrong labelling of medications (Naseralallah et al., 2020). Pharmacists are responsible for enforcing rational drug use through the critical screening of prescriptions and patient counselling (Naseralallah et al., 2020). Failure to do so is detrimental to the patient, especially in primary healthcare settings.

Administration errors are commonly committed by nurses. Examples of such errors include overdoses, underdoses, wrong route of administration, giving medication to the wrong patient, and wrong administration techniques (Escrivá Gracia et al., 2019). Examples of improper administration include wrong intravenous push techniques or nasogastric tube administration techniques (Escrivá Gracia et al., 2019). Just like prescribing and dispensing errors, administration errors increase the incidences of adverse drug events, suboptimal clinical outcomes, and drug toxicities (Escrivá Gracia et al., 2019).

Medication errors are caused by various factors. Lack of open communication increases the likelihood of medication errors (Manias et al., 2020). This can be a lack of communication with patients or among healthcare providers. Open communication ensures that the right patient gets the right dosage of the drug. The other cause is the lack of policies. Defective or absence of policies that advocate for patient-centred services, accountability, and interdisciplinary collaboration increases the likelihood of education errors (Manias et al., 2020). The other cause is poor knowledge transfer in the organization. This is characterized by inadequate training sessions and a lack of continuous medical education programs (Manias et al., 2020). The other cause is staffing shortage. It increases staff burnout and fatigue and increases the likelihood of medication errors (Tamata et al., 2021).

Context, Importance, and the Population Affected by Medication Errors

According to Alqenae et al. (2020), medication errors can arise in various settings, such as healthcare facilities, hospitals, primary healthcare centres, pharmacies, and in the community (at home) when patients are discharged. Medication errors are commonly reported in healthcare settings and indicate deficiencies in the prescribing, dispensing, or administration of medications (Naseralallah et al., 2020). They can also arise in the community when patients are discharged or among outpatients. In the context of medication errors occurring in the community, the pharmacist will have failed to scrutinize prescriptions and identify potential drug interactions or contraindications (Naseralallah et al., 2020). Furthermore, medication errors at the community level are caused by wrong or inadequate dispensing instructions or dispensing of wrong medications (Naseralallah et al., 2020). Consequently, patients are predisposed to adverse even