In the United States, the death rate attributable to various medication mistakes ranges from 7,000 to 9,000. Thousands of patients may have suffered due to medication mistakes that have negative repercussions (Tariq et al., 2020). Every year, medication mistakes result in a $40 billion increase in healthcare expenses for every 7 million patients (Tariq et al., 2020). In order to improve patient happiness, quality of treatment, nursing competences, collaboration between healthcare system and pharmacies, and creation of a top medical facility, the issue must be addressed. In order to suggest and give an action plan to implement the solution, this article will investigate pharmaceutical error issues and strategies to reduce them while taking its efficacy and ethical ramifications into account (Tariq et al., 2020).

The assessment starts by outlining the various causes and contributing elements to the problem, the consequences of these causes and the problem, the various types of medication errors, the various solutions implemented by health systems, a proper review of the solutions, the suggested solution, its ethical implications, and an evidence-based effective implementation approach to put the solution into practice and assess it. NURS FPX 4000 Assessment 4: Analyzing a Current Health Care Issue

Elements of the Medication Errors problem/issue

Medication errors can be deadly or innocuous, but they always lower the standard of treatment and exacerbate tensions between doctors, pharmacists, medical transcriptionists, and other stakeholders. Additionally, it erodes patients’ confidence in the medical system (Dirik et al., 2018).

Packaging mistakes, prescription mistakes, dispensing mistakes, medication administration, miscommunication, and negative drug responses are the problem’s components. There are two different kinds of packaging mistakes (Faraj Al-Ahmadi et al., 2020). The first one has to do with inaccurate information and bad printing. Inaccuracies in dose, similar names, and chemical makeup are examples of incorrect information. The only way to remedy this problem is for the nurses to notice side effects and report them so that the drug may be investigated if it has the accurate info but the incorrect product, or vice versa. Additionally, if there are any tiny flaws in the package, the dispensing machine can recognize it. Due to packing mistakes, medications may be substantially different, posing risks to patients and increasing health difficulties. The likelihood of mistakes is average (Faraj Al-Ahmadi et al., 2020).

NURS FPX 4000 Assessment 4: Analyzing a Current Health Care Issue

The second kind of medication error involves frequent and unexpected changes to the medicine’s initial package, naming sequence, and color. The occurrence of drug mishaps followed a change in labeling (Faraj Al-Ahmadi et al., 2020). Due to a breakdown in information on the change in packaging between pharmacists and nurses, it causes uncertainty among nurses. The likelihood of mistakes is average. From 6% to 77.7% of prescriptions were filled incorrectly (Shrestha & Prajapati, 2019). Due to identical pharmaceutical and medicine names, inaccurate and insufficient patient and drug information on prescriptions, and automated physician order input, these errors are extremely probable and are connected to lapses, blunders, and calculations errors (CPOE). Disparities between the medication handed out and prescriptions are connected to dispensing mistakes and prescription errors (Shrestha & Prajapati, 2019).

NURS FPX 4000 Assessment 4: Analyzing a Current Health Care Issue

The most common causes of drug administration mistakes include incorrect timing, incorrect dose and omission, incorrect administration rate, incorrect preparation, and providing medications due to a dispensing error without first checking and getting in touch with the pharmacist distribution unit. The mistake rate ranges from 8% to 25%, and nurses are mostly responsible for the errors (Chua et al., 2017). Individual mistakes and interferences with the administration process can both lead to drug administration problems. Because of the rise in patient volume and turnover rate, these mistakes are more likely to happen. Ineffective communication makes it more likely that a medication error will occur because preventative and remedial measures cannot be taken (Chua et al., 2017). This widens the distance between the prescriptions, dispense, and drug administration departments, which breeds conflict and a culture of blame. Harmful effects of drugs. Lack of acknowledgement, inadequate suggestions, inaccurate information, and delayed responses are all examples of poor communications (Chua et al., 2017).

Analysis of the Medication Errors Problem

Medication errors are described as any avoidable incidents that might endanger patients or have other negative impacts. Negative medication responses, which might be unanticipated, undesirable, and harmful, are referred to as adverse effects (Zarea et al., 2018). An injury caused by an incorrect dose, administration, or other mistakes is referred to as an adverse medication event. Injury may result in illness or even death.

As a nurse, it is my responsibility to reduce pharmaceutical mistakes since they compromise patient security. Furthermore, as medical treatment is required to address the negative occurrence, such mistakes raise hospital expenses. It, therefore, raises readmission and hospital stay rates. As the caregiver ratio declines, such mistakes add to the strain on nurses. Errors may result in legal action and/or disciplinary punishment. As a result, the patient has less faith in healthcare, which suggests that the hospital provides low-quality care (Zarea et al., 2018).

Effect on Patients, Nurses and Other Health Care Professionals

Medication misjudgments may have a negative effect on the patients. Negative effects extend beyond physical health issues to psychological ones as well, as patients who contract additional illnesses or infections while in the hospital are more likely to experience stress, anxiety, and depression (Zarea et al., 2018). For instance, following bad medication events, patients start to feel lack of motivation to seek therapy for symptoms that are comparable. This suggests that drug mistakes result in undesirable side effects, and undesirable side effects result in psychological problems.

NURS FPX 4000 Assessment 4: Analyzing a Current Health Care Issue

The financial burden on patients is further increased by unfavorable consequences since they require longer hospital stays and more expensive treatment to reverse them. Some negative impacts result in morbidity or death while others cause medical issues that last a lifetime (Dillon et al., 2018). For instance, a pharmacy technician who had no institutional education or experience caused a woman who had been admitted to a Midwestern state to pass away by making several typing errors. The mistakes included spelling mistakes, and inaccurate patient records (Dillon et al., 2018).

Since more medication errors signify unprofessional behavior, the overall negative consequence of the medication problem is poor work satisfaction. As numerous departments including the pharmacy, dispensing units, nursing staff, doctors, and other healthcare personnel are engaged in medication errors issues, blame cultures are rather widespread in the medical field (Dionisi et al., 2021). Conflicts cause anxiety and sadness in nurses because they work in an unsupportive setting. Conflict will arise, for instance, if a patient dies from a high dosage. Due to many units, determining the fundamental reason requires time. Because nurses are at the bottom of the food chain, they will often bear the brunt of the blame, which can cause dread, poor mental health, and decreased work fulfillment (Dionisi et al., 2021).

Potential Solutions for Medication Errors

The first step in the approach is to create a direct channel of interaction among nurses, doctors, pharmacists, and vendors in order to lower the likelihood of medication error, dose calculations going wrong, distribution mistakes, and delayed medication administration. This may be accomplished by including medication administration errors and verifying data with paperwork and EHR. To ensure that everything is validated before moving on to the next phase, the second method is to supply checklists technology for every unit (Hughes & Blegen, 2018). The name, dose, manufacturer, and clinical records for all medications must be verified by pharmacists. To eliminate typing and transcribing mistakes, it can be accomplished by introducing a bar-code-based medicine system (Hughes & Blegen, 2018). The third option is to inform everyone on the proper usage of acronyms. To eliminate medical mistakes, it is preferable to avoid using the abbreviation. These solutions’ drawbacks include the need for a new system, finances, and a potential for excessive reliance on technology (Hughes & Blegen, 2018).