NURS FPX 4020 Capella University Quality Care And Patient Safety Paper – Medication Errors In The Emergency Department Sample Approach
Medication errors in the emergency department (ED) are a significant health issue in contemporary medical practice. Medication errors in the ED are pretty common due to the setting and activities in the ED. Such errors lead to increased healthcare costs, poor quality care, patient dissatisfaction, and high morbidity and mortality rates. Each year,the healthcare sector incurs over $4 billion due to medication errors in the ED (Walsh et al., 2018).
Written and verbal communication is integral in the reduction of medication errors. This essay focuses on a patient safety improvement project aiming to reduce medication errors and related consequences in the emergency department.
Project Aims
Poor communication and missing links are significant causes of patient safety issues. The hasty nature of ED activities increases the prevalence of medication errors.
Medication errors in the ED are caused by dosage errors, failure to follow set guidelines, the emergency nature of the ED, poor communication, and increased workload (DiSimone et al., 2018). The project’s main aim is to reduce medication errors, improve medication error reporting, and decrease the healthcare costs related to medication errors by improving communication between the nurses and other healthcare providers in three months.
Another aim is to promote/ enhance effective communication during the medication administration process. Another aim is to enhance competence and efficiency during medication administration to the patient. In addition, the project aims to improve medication administration reporting in the emergency department. These aims/ objectives will inform the medication administration process and the evaluation process.
Current Practices
Doctors or advanced practice registered nurses prescribe drugs for the patient. These drugs are generally available in the department store, and the nurses administer them as per the prescription. In some instances, nurses administer drugs directly, bypassing written prescriptions to save lives. Most prescriptions are handwritten, thus prone to poor illegible handwriting and missing files (Hassan, 2018). Transcription in the ER is hastily done also, which increases the risk for errors.
Medication errors in the ED also arise after failure to sort drugs, especially LASA drugs, due to the haste common in the emergency departments (Martyn, Palliadeli, & Perry,2019). Drugs are then administered to the patients using the prescription sheets. The nurses on duty are responsible for administering these drugs, and patient handing over occurs after every shift at the nursing desk.
Poor reporting of medication errors in the ED is attributed to stern measures taken against nurses involved in medication errors (Dirik et al., 2019 ). These current practices have many areas for improvement which require addressing.
Figure 1. Current practices in drug administration.
Solutions/ Change Ideas for Medication Errors
Poor communication is a major cause of medication errors in the ED. Various evidence-based interventions help enhance the communication process. One intervention is bedside patient handing-over using the ISBAR method (Marmor & Li, 2017). This method is critical because the patients’ movement rate is relatively high compared to other departments because they are moved to other relevant departments to create space for other patients.
Thus, there is a need to pay attention to every patient’s details (Di Simone et al., 2018). Using this intervention, nurses familiarize themselves with the patients, and during each shift, they evaluate the patient’s status and the medications for possible changes and necessary adjustments. Effective communication at the bedside helps eliminate transcription errors during this step (Marmor & Li, 2017).
The method also helps avoid confusion and forgetfulness common when nurses hand over patients at the nursing desk. The documented success rate of this intervention is high, and it is an excellent strategy to reduce medication errors.
Written communication is prone to errors such as illegibility and transcription errors. Avoiding these errors is by using electronic health records, which help in ordering, transcription, and documentation in the medication administration process (Ratwani et al., 2018). The information is also available in the systems for confirmation and reflection at any moment. These systems provide formality at the workplace and are easier and more effective than traditional methods (Pa
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