Insulin forms an important part of diabetes treatment, but some patients may find it hard to manage and control. The adverse drug events involving insulin are for insulin-related low blood sugar also known as hypoglycemia or for errors when it comes to taking insulin. Research shows that between 2007 and 2011, there were about 100, 0000 emergency department visits by insulin users each year in the USA for both errors in taking insulin and hypoglycemia ( Geller et al., 2014) . Two-thirds of the patients show symptoms of hypoglycemia. It was also established that the reasons for the hypoglycemia and errors was meal-related mishaps as well as taking the wrong insulin products.
To prevent the ADE, patients should plan meals and always ensure that attention is paid to the insulin products. It is evident that meal-planning is a well-organized component of diabetes education. Based on the ADE, it became clear that a meal -related mishap was to blame for over half the cases. These mishaps include a patient not eating after taking insulin and not adjusting the insulin levels when the patient is eating less. Paying attention to the product helps in reducing the confusion between the rapid-acting and the long-acting insulin ( Geller et al., 2014) . These errors can reduce the number of time that patients visit the emergency department. It is essential for the patient to continue working with their physicians for them to manage their diabetes safely and effectively. One of the ways of dealing with the problem is to conduct patient education on meal planning as well as the safe administration of insulin for them to receive the safest and most effective care. For instance, patients need to be educated on how to regulate their insulin levels if they are eating less. Taking the wrong insulin product was the second most common ADE as a result of Insulin.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
If I was working in risk management, I would make use of the root cause analysis. It is reactive and focuses on failure detection. The implication is that it can work well when it comes to product issues and unplanned deviation in a patient way of doing things. The root cause analysis looks at the underlying cause of the occurrence of a failure and causes of the problem ( Kellogg et al., 2017) . This would be ideal in determining what the patient does wrong in regards to meal planning. The focus is to prevent a future occurrence of the problem. The root cause analysis provides a way to detect and fix a problem. In helping a patient deal with the problem of meal-planning and errors in taking insulin, then the practitioners have to understand the cause of the hypoglycemia and the errors to guide the patient in making better care of themselves in future ( Kellogg et al., 2017) .
To conduct HFMEA, the team has to be multidisciplinary to be cross-functional team. I would ensure that my team has all those who would be involved in taking care of the patient suffering from the ADE. Risk assessment team and nutritionists will help patients in meal planning while nurses and physicians will receive the patients in emergency care ( Lee, Kim, Huynh, & Hamilton, 2017) . The aim is to focus on the proactive approach in dealing with the problem and prevent it from happening before it can even commence. All those who work towards the diabetic patient have to be involved in detectability in the evaluation of the problem. All the teams have to understand their roles in ensuring failure prevention.
References
Geller, A. I., Shehab, N., Lovegrove, M. C., Kegler, S. R., Weidenbach, K. N., Ryan, G. J., & Budnitz, D. S. (2014). National estimates of insulin-related hypoglycemia and errors leading to emergency department visits and hospitalizations. JAMA internal medicine , 174 (5), 678-686.
Kellogg, K. M., Hettinger, Z., Shah, M., Wears, R. L., Sellers, C. R., Squires, M., & Fairbanks, R. J. (2017). Our current approach to root cause analysis: is it contributing to our failure to improve patient safety?. BMJ Qual Saf , 2016.
Lee, Y. C., Kim, Y., Huynh, J. W. Y., & Hamilton, R. J. (2017). Failure modes and effects analysis for ocular brachytherapy. Brachytherapy , 16 (6), 1265-1279.
