DOI: 10.5176/2315-4330_WNC13.68
Authors: Venkatesh Murthy J
Abstract:
Medications are used as one of the interventional strategies in the prevention and management of various ailments.[1] Medicine heals, but this fact doesn`t hold true always.[2] Medication error (ME) is not intentional error, is a failure in the drug treatment process due to human frailty because of complexity of the medication administration process. The potential for MEs can occur during prescribing, transcribing and verifying, dispensing and delivering, administering, monitoring and reporting time.[3,4]
WHO believes that one in 10 hospital admissions leads to an adverse event and one in 300 admissions in death.[2] Drugs are the most common cause of medical errors in hospitals, affecting 3.7{6e6090cdd558c53a8bc18225ef4499fead9160abd3419ad4f137e902b483c465} of patients. MEs occur in 3-6.9{6e6090cdd558c53a8bc18225ef4499fead9160abd3419ad4f137e902b483c465} of inpatients. The error rate for inpatient medication orders was reported to be 0.03-16.9{6e6090cdd558c53a8bc18225ef4499fead9160abd3419ad4f137e902b483c465}.[5]
The subject of nonpunitive reporting system is one of the best approach to the medication error to decrease incidence of errors and protect patients and having a blame-free method to increase the error reporting.[6] In the other hand nonpunitive culture excuses poor performance and increase carelessness because individual learn that they will not be punished for their mistakes.[7]
Medication errors are a preventable error. Most of the incidences, the individual/team/system will not reveal such errors, but health care system always supports immediate and voluntary reporting on medication error and is essential to prevent the adverse effects on client health. Creating a culture of safety is a key component in improving medication safety. It requires an organizational commitment at all level to continuously monitor, report and develop process toward improving safety by providing necessary resources to implement prevention strategies in reducing medication errors and harm.[8] When individuals and organizations are able to move from individual blame toward a culture of safety, where the blame and shame of errors is eliminated & reporting is rewarded.[9]
Drug administration is an integral part of the nurse's role, but medication errors are a multidisciplinary problem and a multidisciplinary approach is required in order to reduce the incidence of errors.[10] It is important to understand nurses' opinion on medication errors in preventing such errors, because nurses’ involvements were found in identification, ratification, committing, witnessing and reporting of medication errors in their work place. Once this initial information is explored, organizations can introduce new interventions for preventing such error and specific safety activities can be accomplished. This study finding can also be used to measure the transformation of attitudes over a period of time.
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