Nurses, in
particular, have the odds stacked against them due to the nature of the job.
They manage multiple patients and multiple responsibilities on a daily basis,
leaving very little room for other necessary duties. Nurses are also often
fatigued and tired from working long or overnight shifts.
Ninety-seven percent of the nurses in the study identified fatigue
due to high workload as the leading influencing factor of medication errors.
1. Ensure the five
rights of medication administration are adhered to
Every time you administer a dose, it’s important to keep the
five rights of medication in mind. This is one of the easiest ways to prevent
medication errors in nursing and should be reviewed upon each administration of
medication. These rights include:
The right patient:
Are these medications prescribed to this patient and not the one next door and check
names double times.
The right drug:
Be sure the medicine you’re giving aligns with the doctor’s orders and patient
treatment plan. If something doesn’t seem right — such as a drug you’ve never
seen used for a specific diagnosis before — don’t be afraid to double check
with the prescribing doctor.
The right dose:
Double and triple check the dosage amount before administering.
The right route:
Should pills be crushed or given whole to swallow and it Is the medication
administered via IV or an NG tube and these details matter.
The right time:
Be sure the medication is being given at the right scheduled time, whether
morning, afternoon or evening. If it’s being given in intervals, such as every
four hours, this should be recorded appropriately to avoid double dosing.
2. Pay close
attention to drug packaging, labeling and nomenclature
According to Nurses Today, the packaging for many drugs
looks similar. An adult
nurse
practitioner said that Healthcare organizations should ensure that all
medications are provided in clearly labeled unit-dose packages for
institutional use.
The manufacturer of heparin, Baxter Healthcare, has enhanced
the labels on heparin packaging and other high-alert drugs, including a 20
percent larger font size, tear-off cautionary labels and different colors to distinguish
dosage differences.
3. Double check — or
even triple-check — individual patient procedures
This is one of the simplest ways to avoid medication errors
in
nursing. It usually
involves having another nurse review all new medication orders to ensure that
each patient’s medication is noted and transcribed correctly on the physician’s
order and the medication administration record. Some hospitals may have similar
procedures in place already, so be sure to follow those.
Paying close attention to high-alert medications in
particular is important. A nurse should be independently double-checking themselves
before administering them.
4. Put a zero in
front of the decimal point
It sounds overly simplistic, but this simple action may help
save a life. A dosage such as .25 mg can easily be misconstrued as 25 mg, which
results in a potentially adverse outcome for the patient.
5. Document
everything
Proper documentation includes: Proper medication labeling
and legible documentation on charts or medication administration records.
A lack of proper documentation can result in an error. For
example, if a nurse forgets to write down a dosage that was given for an
as-needed medication, it can result in a second dosage being administered by
another nurse because no record of the previous dose exists.
It’s a nurse’s job to put patients first, and preventing
medication errors in nursing is important to patient success and improved
overall health
For more details visit: https://healthcare.nursingmeetings.com/
