Introduction
Generally, medication errors have devastating effects on patients and their families and may result in higher medical expenses and a decline in the standard of care. The analysis aims to provide a solution to the issue of medication fault using the Socratic problem-solving approach. The discussion will begin by identifying the problem at hand and then proceed to generate as many remedies as possible. The third part will involve evaluating and choosing one probable solution from the resolutions generated. Lastly, the discussion will entail the implementation of the selected possible solution. The article can assist in enhancing patient safety and outcomes, foster a culture of openness and accountability, and facilitate continuous improvement within the healthcare industry by emphasizing the effects of medical mistakes and finding successful remedies.
Problem Analysis
By definition, a medication error can be described as a preventable adverse effect of a patient taking the wrong prescription, whether or not it is evident or harmful to the individual. Treatment mistakes can happen at any stage of disease management, from prescribing through administration can involve medical experts from several fields, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and technicians (Gracia et al., 2019). A few examples of pharmaceutical faults include giving the incorrect drug or dose, providing it through the incorrect channel, or neglecting to keep track of a patient’s reaction to a medication.
The group of people affected by the problem includes patients in hospitals who frequently use many drugs and are attended to by various healthcare professionals. Furthermore, the cases are common among people who are often in a severe state of illness, which can raise the possibility of medication errors due to factors such as changed mental condition or organ function. The errors are mostly recurrent in long-term care residential patients who have many chronic diseases and regularly need multiple drugs. This is caused by the common use of high-risk medicines such as anticoagulants and opioids, which might raise the danger of medication mistakes (Gracia et al., 2019). Other causes include mixing pharmaceuticals with names that seem similar, misreading medication instructions, or using the wrong quantity of pills. In addition, medication mistakes can happen when individuals self-administer drugs at home. Patients may be in charge of administering their prescriptions in these situations, which raises the possibility of faults as a result of issues such as non-adherence to doctor’s advice.
The issue of medication errors is important to me because I am interested in facilitating patient safety and improved care in hospitals. In addition, the mistakes may have severe side effects on the patients, such as adverse drug reactions, hospitalization, or possibly passing away (Gracia et al., 2019). As an aspiring nurse, I am greatly disappointed by such challenges since it goes against the oath sworn by healthcare practitioners to care for and not harm patients. Some of the notable examples of medication errors include the death of Mayra Cabrera, who passed away after taking a medicine inappropriately. She died after giving birth, and the postnotum indicated that a mistake had been made in the intravenous administration of 150 ml of a 500 ml bag of 0.1% bupivacaine in saline (Sud & Szawarski, 2018). Another example is a case where a Tennessee nurse was charged for injecting vecuronium into a patient instead of Versed (Sud & Szawarski, 2018). These examples show the prevalence of treatment errors and how serious they are in healthcare.
Considering Options
One method that can be used as a solution to medication errors is increasing communication among healthcare professionals. Miscommunication or a lack of detailed information between healthcare professionals cans easily result in medication mishaps (Rodziewicz & Hipskind, 2020). Healthcare organizations should create standardized systems for prescribing, distributing, and administering medications to solve this problem. The other approach is the use of technology to reduce possible drug mistakes. Systems for electronic prescriptions can aid in lowering blunders brought by illegible handwriting or improper doses. Computerized systems for entering prescriptions for medications can further offer decision-making support that can notify medical professionals of possible drug interactions, allergies, or other medication-related problems. To make sure patients are given the appropriate medicines, dosages, and routes of administration, barcoding and scanning technologies might be used.
Medication reconciliation is a crucial procedure for avoiding drug mistakes along with the use of technology. This procedure can aid in locating possible inconsistencies and prevent mistakes due to improper doses or drug interactions. Additionally, educating and training of healthcare providers improves the ability of professionals to avoid medical errors. The hazards of pharmaceutical mistakes must be understood by healthcare workers, as well as the best practices for prescribing, distributing, and administering medications. This involves having a thorough understanding of typical medication faults, patient characteristics that raise the likelihood of errors, and good communication abilities. Lastly, healthcare institutions must foster a culture of safety to reduce errors. The creation of a non-punitive atmosphere that encourages nurses to disclose errors without fear of retaliation, the promotion of openness, and encouraging mistake reporting are all components of a culture of safety (Rodziewicz & Hipskind, 2020). Pinpointing opportunities for improvement requires routinely reviewing and monitoring the pharmaceutical processes.
Solution
The issue of medication errors is among the leading causes of death. Therefore, failure to address the problem will facilitate injuries and untimely deaths that can be prevented. The facet has the potential to lower public confidence in the available healthcare services. I would propose the application of electronic prescriptions as the potential solution to medication errors. An electronic system (e-prescription) is a technique of prescribing and administering medication via electronic equipment, such as computers or mobile devices. The practice enhances the effectiveness, precision, and safety of the drug procedure by eliminating the need for paperwork (Kenawy & Kett, 2019). The capacity of e-prescription to prevent treatment errors is an essential aspect of the technology. It can solve some of the faults caused by manual prescriptions, such as illegible handwriting, incomplete prescriptions, and misguided dosage directions, by ensuring that prescriptions are clear, comprehensive, and correct.
Ethical Implications
Four ethical tenets—beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, and justice—guide the use of e-prescription. The duty to behave in the patient’s best interest is referred to as beneficence. By lowering drug mistakes and enhancing the precision and safety of medicine delivery, the usage of e-prescription can advance beneficence (Kenawy & Kett, 2019). It can also enhance patient outcomes by giving medical professionals access to real-time patient data and medication history. The need to treat the patient without malice is referred to as nonmaleficence. By decreasing the likelihood of pharmaceutical mistakes and unfavorable drug responses, e-prescription might encourage nonmaleficence. It can also help to prevent damage by giving healthcare professionals access to the most recent data on available medications and treatments. The term “autonomy” refers to a patient’s ability to choose their healthcare options. It enables patients to access their pharmaceutical information electronically hence fostering autonomy through enhancing patients’ comprehension of their drugs and empowering them to make educated healthcare decisions.
On the other side, justice refers to the duty to treat every patient equally and fairly. By making healthcare more accessible to all patients, especially those who live in distant or underprivileged regions, the use of e-prescriptions helps advance justice (Kenawy & Kett, 2019). It can also raise the standard of treatment by giving medical professionals access to current data and prescription histories for all patients, regardless of their location or socioeconomic position.
Implementation
A number of crucial processes are included in the e-prescription implementation process. Healthcare providers must first choose an electronic prescription software platform that suits their requirements and conforms with industry standards. To enable seamless data interchange, healthcare providers must interface the e-prescription software with their electronic health record (EHR) system. Third, the e-prescription software must be incorporated into the regular workflow of the healthcare facility and teach their personnel how to utilize it. Fourth, the health facility is supposed to create a procedure for confirming the patient’s identity and guaranteeing the correctness of prescription data. Lastly, for pharmacies to accept and handle e-prescriptions safely and effectively, healthcare providers must collaborate with them.
Conclusion
Medication error is a particular kind of medical error that involve mistakes in the prescription, distribution, or administration of medicine. It can be caused by several factors, such as administering the wrong amounts of drugs, confusing the names of the medicines, or not keeping track of the patient’s drug response records. The errors have dire consequences, including death, hospitalization, and reduced customer confidence in healthcare provider services. Some of the solutions include improved communication, the use of technology, medication reconciliation, and training of healthcare providers. The solution suggested by this paper is an electronic prescription which is the administration of medication via electronic equipment. It has all four ethical tenets, including beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, and justice.
References
Gracia, E. J., Serrano, B. R., & Garrido, F. J. (2019). Medication errors and drug knowledge gaps among critical-care nurses: A mixed multi-method study. BMC health services research, 19(1), 1-9. Web.
Kenawy, A. S., & Kett, V. (2019). The impact of electronic prescription on reducing medication errors in an Egyptian outpatient clinic. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 127, 80-87. Web.
Rodziewicz, T. L., & Hipskind, J. E. (2020). Medical error prevention. StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing. Web.
Sud, A., & Szawarski, P. (2018). Classic cases revisited–death of a nurse and the anatomy of error. Journal of the Intensive Care Society, 19(2), 155-160. Web.