THE NURSES' RESPONSABILITY IN THE PREVENTION OF MEDICAL ERRORS Essay

THE NURSES' RESPONSABILITY IN THE PREVENTION OF MEDICAL ERRORS - Essay Example It identifies the six major medication administration rights that need to be observed during patient care. The study draws close attention to the health care provided by nurses as regards to patient safety with key measures being the errors and their frequency of occurrence. The implication of this study therefore is to sensitize the health care providers on the medication administration rights and how to apply them to reduce medication errors. A medication error is any event which is preventable that may lead to improper medication use or patient injury while the medication is in the control of a health care professional, consumer or patient. Under the state laws, injury to a patient that arises as a consequence of negligence or medical malpractice, results in a tort (Cima et al, 2012). This is punishable under a court of law. Medication errors may be related to professional practice, health care products, systems and procedure. Poor drug prescription including order communication, labeling of drugs, nomenclature, compounding, dispensing, administration and use are among the major medication errors. Therefore, there should be minimal or no room at all for errors especially human that may lead to injury of any form on a patient. There are nursing guidelines that govern nurses to help them prevent medication errors (Sherwood, 2012. ... In this regard, the nurses need to properly understand the six major medical administration rights during patient care. In simple terms, it is an attempt at improving safety at this point of care. This is especially for the vulnerable population such as the elderly in the society or the infants and children. Nurses are required to strictly observe the rights of medical administration. This is part of the many intervention aspects of nursing that help to reduce medical related errors. The various medical administration rights that should be adhered to are as discussed below; Right patient At times, busy hospitals and emergency centers can innocently misrepresent the identity of a patient either through the manual processes used or overlooked while under pressure. Therefore nurses should take proper records of a patient such as the names age and where from to act as identifiers. With the advancement in technology, the use of a bar-code system can be helpful in preventing probable medic ation errors. For example, a patient suffered injury as a result of being administered with a different patient’s prescription for blood thinner warfarin. The patient developed serious hemorrhage Right drug It is not possible for every nurse to know the drug facts for each drug and particular patients therefore it is advisable for every nurse to be knowledgeable about the drugs being administered to a patient. It is only professional and competent for a nurse to look up for more drug information in unfamiliar instances before administering a drug on a patient. It is the right of the patient to receive the right information on a medication, a right to receive correct medication and a nurse having knowledge on the medication they are providing. to prevent errors it is