Best Practices Addressing Medication Errors

Applying Research Skills: Medication Errors
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Applying Research Skills: Medication Errors
Overview of the Topic
Summary
Medication error is a critical problem in the medical field which heavily impacts the patients. It is a preventable event that jeopardizes the quality of care due to medical mistakes. It can also be highlighted as wrong meditation or dosage taken by the patient, whether harmful or not. Medication error majorly comes from the ignorance of the health experts; however, others may be genuine. Medication-use systems can always experience medication errors. For instance, during primary activities such as drug prescription, dispensation, information gathering, a nurse may make a mistake that adversely affects the quality of care. According to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), approximately 100,000 cases are reported annually as medical errors (Manias & Wu, 2020). Some of the agencies responsible for these reports are consumers, healthcare professionals, and drug manufacturers. Medication errors are critical since they affect the patients, including birth defects, disability, hospitalization, life threat, and death. Indeed, healthcare needs to focus on strong measures to curb the identified problems and ensure sustainable healthcare. The FDA is working with other agencies to reduce medication errors that constantly affect the patients' health. Specific interventions and best practices are implemented to reduce the problem, including staff education, safety training, and medical staff education. The FDA constantly reviews the drug options by focusing on packaging, labeling, and product design to identify any possible misinformation which may cause harm to the patient. However, the problem still exists, and more interventions are necessary.
Interest in the Topic
I am interested in the topic due to the adverse impacts on the patients to devise necessary solutions. I am longing for a system where there should be no errors in the medication since whenever a mistake is made, it is irreversible. Therefore instead of exposing the patients to life threats, best practices are necessary to reduce such errors. Besides, it is a topic of interest since the actions that lead to medical errors are preventable. Therefore, stringent measures are needed to eliminate the problem. Lastly, the topic is of interest since it affects the quality of care. As a future health expert, I must ensure high-quality patient healthcare.
Professional Experience
I have significant professional experience with medication errors. For instance, working as a part-time pharmacist in one of the chemists, I came across a poorly packaged drug where opioid was packed instead of NSAIDs. All the drugs are pain killers, but they play different roles. Therefore, regardless of playing a similar role, they act uniquely. I was disturbed by the scenario, and whenever I would prescribe such a drug to the patient, it would lead to health issues. I took the issue as critical and decided as a health expert. I would ensure medication errors are addressed, and the life of the patients are safeguarded.
Annotated Bibliography
Kaur, A. P., Levinson, A. T., Monteiro, J. F. G., & Carino, G. P. (2019). The impact of errors on healthcare professionals in the critical care setting. Journal of Critical Care, (8)52, 16-21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrc.2019.03.001
The article highlights the major consequences of medical errors in healthcare and valid interventions. The authors note that medical errors are heavily experienced in the ICUs, and the main cause of such errors includes experience and the practitioner. The article is included since it addresses ICUs that experience high medical errors, and it creates a better ground for reducing errors. The authors found that physicians with less than 11 years' experience make more medical errors. It concluded that the key solution to address the emerging concerns is consistent training and embracing a collaborative culture to allow the juniors to gain adequate experiences and limit errors. Therefore, the article is relevant and would promote intensive research for reducing medical errors. The source is credible; it is peer-reviewed and written by authors with reliable credentials. The publication is current since the source is three years old. The information is still relevant and would significantly reduce medication errors. A secondary search was considered as the criteria for literature search where keywords such as medical errors were used.
Manias, E., Kusljic, S., & Wu, A. (2020). A systematic review of interventions to reduce medication errors in adult medical and surgical settings. Therapeutic advances in drug safety, (3)11, 106-111. https://doi.org/10.1177/2042098620968309
The article aims to reduce the medical errors experiences in many surgeries and other health care settings. The authors also analyzed the effectiveness of specific interventions in curbing medical errors such as administration, dispensing, and prescribing issues. Based on the summary, most medication errors occur during drug prescribing and administering. Besides, the errors cause harm or death in different health settings. The global cost of medical errors is $42 billion, alarming and needing reliable interven...