Application of Evidence-Based Strategies to Address Medication Errors

The occurrence and avoidance of medication errors can be understood best through classification. Medication errors can be classified into a number of categories that may include contextual (place, medicines, time, and people involved), modal (ways through which medication errors occur), and psychological (explaining events). Psychological classification is mostly preferred over the other two categories.

Several evidence-based strategies can be used to address medication errors. Adherence to the five rights of medication administration and following proper medication reconciliation procedures is of great significance. Healthcare providers should double-check procedures before performing them. This helps to ensure that the orders for each patient are noted and that the same are transcribed correctly on the physician’s order, as well as the medication administration record. Nurses should read back orders to the prescribing physicians. It is also important for healthcare providers to use name alerts, especially for cases where patient names sound similar, to avoid the mix-up of medications. Nurses should also use drug guides at all times, ensure proper storage of medications for proper efficacy, and ensure that everything is documented correctly. It is also important for healthcare providers to have knowledge about their organization’s medication administration guidelines, regulations, and policies (Tariq, Vashisht & Scherbak, 2020).

Improvement Plan and Existing Organizational Resources

Healthcare providers should have comprehensive knowledge of the strategies used in the prevention or reduction of medication errors. Various strategies are available for this purpose. As mentioned above, it is important for healthcare providers to ensure that they adhere to the five rights of medication administration and follow proper medication reconciliation procedures. Healthcare providers should double-check procedures before performing them. This helps ensure that the orders for each patient are noted and that the same are transcribed correctly on the physician’s order as well as the medication administration record (World Health Organization, 2016). Nurses should read back orders to the prescribing physicians. It is also important for healthcare providers to use name alerts, especially for cases where patient names sound similar, to avoid the mix-up of medications. Nurses should also use drug guides at all times, ensure proper storage of medications for proper efficacy, and ensure that everything is documented correctly. It is also important for healthcare providers to have knowledge about their organization’s medication administration guidelines, regulations, and policies (World Health Organization, 2016).

Several organizational resources can be leveraged so as to bring about improvement in relation to medication errors. Some of them include ensuring interoperability of the electronic health records adopted by the organization, ensuring that pharmacists are involved in direct patient care, and using handoff conversations properly. Appropriate utilization of electronic health records has the potential to lead to a significant reduction in medication errors.

Conclusion

In conclusion, a root cause is defined as a factor that makes an individual fail to conform to procedures as dictated, which necessitates the need to eliminate it completely through improvement. A medication error can be defined as the failure of an individual to administer medication following the required procedure, which has the potential to harm the patient. There are various reasons why medication errors occur. No matter how serious a medication error is, detecting it is important since it helps uncover a failure in the treatment process so as to prevent harm on another occasion. Several evidence-based strategies can be used to address medication errors. Adherence to these strategies can be effective in the prevention or reduction of medication errors.

References

Naples, J. G., Hanlon, J. T., Schmader, K. E., & Semla, T. P. (2016). Recent literature on medication errors and adverse drug events in older adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 64(2), 401-408.