Medication Administration Errors (MAEs) as a patient risk
Abstract
The evidence-based practice is an essential competency in the nursing practice that enhances quality in care and patient safety in healthcare organizations. Quality care and safe environments in healthcare systems are vital for patients to receive the necessary treatment and be discharged in the shortest time with improved outcomes. Medication administration errors are some of the common quality and safety issues that occur in healthcare systems that require direct evidence-based strategies to address them. Baccalaureate programs equip nurses with appropriate skills and knowledge to identify and address the patient risk factors to ensure that errors in medication administration are eliminated. The medical errors are preventable hence the need to employ the evidence-based practice for the nurses to improve healthcare quality and safety of patients. The paper explores the Medication Administration Errors (MAEs) as a patient risk, and the evidence-based practise strategies for quality improvement and enhancing patient safety by baccalaureate nurses.
Enhancing Quality and Safety
Healthcare providers and organizations aim to establish safe environments where patients can exist throughout their medical illnesses. However, due to various procedural and structural complications within the health system, maintaining health standards is usually a big challenge. The nurses are a critical part of the healthcare system and play a vital role in the occurrence and prevention of quality and safety issues (Allen, 2013). Wondmieneh et al. (2020) noted that the healthcare procedures that are meant to help end up causing the negative implications to patients. Unsafe medical practices are among the largest causes of patient safety and quality issues in the healthcare systems globally (Wondmieneh et al., 2020). The medication errors are the common practices and lead to severe harm, disability or death. The nurses play an essential role in ensuring that they participate in minimizing the mistakes by upholding their responsibilities. Quality improvements (QI) tactics and safety improvement strategies can be applied as efficient interventions that reduce the occurrence of medication errors and other healthcare complications.
Quality healthcare is characterized by an optimal balance between possibilities achieved by the medical practices and the various values and norms developed within the healthcare system. The quality and safety improvement are standards that are produced by the healthcare actors who agree with such safety. The medication errors that affect quality and safety standards can occur at any stage during the medication process (Wondmieneh et al., 2020). Nurses that have undergone through the baccalaureate programs can appropriately identify and explain various patient risks factors and using the evidence-based practices as solutions to mainly improve quality and safety issues in health systems. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (n.d.), the nursing profession is rapidly growing and is highly ranked due to the ability of nurses to offer quality patient care and eliminate the healthcare risks to patients. Baccalaureate programs equip the nurses with appropriate knowledge and skills that ensure that nurses are competent in using the evidence-based interventions that improve quality and safety standards.
Elements of a successful quality improvement initiative
Quality improvement is developed in a way that there is a systematic approach that allows members to assess and evaluate their professional performance against established standards to measure their conformity. Any quality deviations require adjustments that ensure quality and safety is realized in health systems. The nurses have an obligation to assess the laid down approaches and works towards minimizing medication administration errors. The nurses are significantly concerned with defining and measuring quality in healthcare systems while they also participate in quality improvement procedures that improve patient safety (Wondmieneh et al., 2020). Patient safety is an integral element of high-quality healthcare service delivery. Promoting patient safety focuses on enhancing care aiming to prevent harm, reinfection or deaths. The nurses remain actively engaged in surveillance and coordination of medical administration procedures to reduce the adverse outcomes. The successful quality improvement procedures can rely on elements such as; facilitating all system understanding of the problem, setting the quality improvement goal and targets, measure to be implemented and assessing the return on investment while keeping in mind the costs involved.
Factors that lead to patient safety risks (medication administration errors)
Medication errors are among the common risks exposed to patients in healthcare systems and contribute to high deaths in the USA ahead of road accidents and AIDS (Wondmieneh et al., 2020). The Medication Administration Errors (MAEs) affects patients’ movements, financial abilities, mortality, hospital stay, additional cost and adverse medication events (Wondmieneh et al., 2020). Various factors expose patients to MAEs may be associated with healthcare, environment and patient issues. The factors include;
- Lack of high-quality standards in healthcare. When the nursing care quality is below the standards, the MAEs become high in the healthcare systems. Low-quality care exposes the risks to the patients and affects their health wellbeing.
- Poorly maintained the safety of patients during medication administration increases the patient risk because of the possibilities of harming the patients (Wondmieneh et al., 2020).
- Lack of work experience for the medication administration among healthcare professionals which exposes the patients to severe health conditions. According to Wondmieneh et al. (2020), medication administration is one of the nursing practices that is improved through experience, greater knowledge.
- Lack of appropriate training and guidelines for medication administration care nurses contribute to high risk of MAEs. Nurses require proper knowledge and training to promote conformity to standards set by safety organizations like as Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM).
- Interruptions during medication administration. The process of administering medication to patients require high levels of concentration, and any form of interruption to nurses during preparation and administering increases the risk of errors (Wondmieneh et al., 2020). The interruptions lead to loss of attentiveness and cognitive failure about memory.
Explain the nurse’s role in coordinating care to enhance quality and reduce costs.
The nurses play an important role in to promote and improve quality of care and safety of patients. Medication administration errors are partially preventable, and it can make the health systems safe to all patients that are admitted for different health issues. The nurses are actively involved in laying down strategies that can be used by other interdisciplinary teams to minimize patient risk and reduce cases of MAEs. Reporting MEAs is one of the nurses’ roles to reduce patient risks and improve quality standards in healthcare and lower subsequent costs. According to Wondmieneh et al. (2020), many nurses fail to report MAEs due to fear of being blamed for the errors and low levels of support and encouragement in healthcare departments. Encouraging reporting of the errors ensures that nurses work appropriately and issue feedbacks about the medication administration and errors to facilitate monitoring and improving care standards and quality.
Reporting ensure that healthcare providers are informed of the quality and safety levels in medication administration to identify and address the issue of MAEs. Jember et al. (2018) indicated that voluntary reporting is a quality improvement measure that promotes coordination of care and has an impact in acknowledging the extent and effects of the MAEs. Reporting the medication errors ensures that services providers and program implementers have adequate information about the problem to adequately improve the quality and safety of medication procedures (Bifftu et al., 2016). Medication therapy is also an essential role of the nurses that helps in coordinating care provision to enhance quality and safe medication administration process. Jember et al. (2018) noted that medication therapy and reporting of errors are vital routine nursing responsibilities to minimize MAEs. Coordination of care is a shared responsibility, and the nurses coordinate with various stakeholders like clinicians, caregivers, policymakers and other advocacy groups to improve quality and safety standards in healthcare. The nurses adopt the strategies that are cost-effective for the patients and the organization and ensure the coordination of care prioritizes the high-quality standards and patient safety.
Nurses can be involved in numerous ways in coordinating healthcare to prevent and reduce the occurrence of MAEs to enhance quality and reduce healthcare costs. Lyle-Edrosolo & Waxman (2016) noted that nurses have to demonstrate evidence-based practice as a QSEN competency to improve healthcare safety and quality. The main roles include;
- Adhering to the five rights of medication administration (correct medication, correct prescription to the right patient, correct dosage, correct intake/route and appropriate timing)
- Proper storage of medication for efficiency
- Using a drug administration guideline all the time
- Adhere to the nursing policies, regulations and guidelines regarding medication administration.
Conclusion
Quality and safety improvement aims at minimizing the patient risks that cause harm and death to people. Quality care improvement requires a multidiscipline approach that ensures all stakeholders collaborate to create efficiency and effectiveness. The nursing profession is at the centre of quality improvement because they deal with patients directly while providing care services. Patients have a high preference for quality care that guarantees their safety and short times spent in hospitals. Medication administration errors can be reduced and prevented through the evidence-based strategies of quality and safety improvement in the paper and can be adopted by nurses.