Medical errors refer to errors are nothing new and have been there for years. Medical errors are common and tend to occur in every hospital across the globe. Humans are not immune to mistakes and make them every day. Medical errors when they are disclosed tend to cause no harm to clients, unlike when they remain undisclosed. Medical errors are said to be responsible for thousands of deaths in the United States every year (Berlinger, 2008). Medical errors as much as are common; they can be mitigated, thus delivering the best results.
In the world of health care, it is the responsibility of medical practitioners to ensure the best for their clients. Normally they do this by giving them the best medical options informing them about necessary facts to ensure that they understand their choices. As for this reason, doctors or any other medical practitioners are ethically and legally required to give the best to their clients in terms of treatment and service. Admitting mistakes done to patients, which are supported by the consequentialist and deontological perspectives is of great significance. For instance, bearing in mind the legal and ethical value of a particular action alone in addition to considering the likely aftermath of the deed; it eventually becomes obvious that a suitable course of action to be taken incase an error occurs is for the medical practitioners to inform their clients about them (Edwin, 2009). According to the ethical principles; non- maleficence, self-determination right, right to knowledge, autonomy, beneficence as well as veracity, the patient is protected from harm. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the medical practitioner to come out in the open and disclose the prescription error to the client, health facility, and clients’ family (Bonney, 2014).
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Some medical practitioners believe that disclosing medical errors is wrong, and thereby fail to inform their clients of a medical error which might have occurred. Evidence shows that medical practitioners “disclose errors to patients in less than half of instances when serious errors occur” (Edwin, 2009). Ethically, doctors and patients need to have a close and understanding relationship without secrets. Failing to disclose medical errors to clients is thus unethical and illegal since harm would eventually be done rather than good. Medical practitioners are mandated with the responsibility to provide care and knowledge about the most appropriate medication to their clients, as for this reason nondisclosure of medical errors to patients is highly unacceptable (Ghazal et al., 2014). Nursing Practice Ac, which governs nursing practice across the U.S has it that nondisclosure of medical errors to patients is an undermining aspect of the nursing profession. In the state of Ohio, “a culture of immediate intervention and assistance has been embodied” (Moffatt-Bruce et al., 2016). In case of a critical incidence, step by step action is taken to ensure safety in the end. The state further asserts that it is the responsibility of the healthcare system to maintain transparency with their clients (Phelps, 2013).
As a nurse, in this presented scenario, I would gladly inform my client, his/her family, and the healthcare facility I work at of the medical error that has occurred. Patients irrespective of their status and position in the society have the right to know the medication they are using, and if any medical error occurs, they are mandated to know. As an advanced nurse, I am obligated to disclose to my clients any medical errors that I might have done in the prescriptions from both the ethical and legal perspectives. Informing my client(s) about medical errors that I have done would be significant in promoting their safety, and would thus build trust and confidence between them and me and the healthcare facility. What is more, disclosing the medical error done would allow for the most appropriate measures to be taken, thus ensuring that no harm is done to the client.
When it comes to writing prescriptions, there is a need to employ certain strategies purposely designed to mitigate errors which may occur. First, there is a need to obtain as much information as possible understand the patients’ medication history before starting on something new. Then, there is a need to explore every client health facto, which can have an uncompromising effect on the administered drug, thus causing harm to the patient. For instance, psychological conditions of the client, i.e. some drugs may severely react with an individual, unlike other drugs. Due to this, drugs which are not compatible with a client’s psychological health would be withdrawn and disqualified thus replaced with the most appropriate alternatives. Also, by performing an appropriate and thorough diagnosis, prescription error would be greatly minimized. Furthermore, it is important that the prescribers have adequate knowledge of drugs before they prescribe them to clients (Pharmacy Board of Australia, 2015).
Medical prescription errors are not a new thing and have been happening for many years now. Medical practitioners are just humans like any other person and therefore capable of making mistakes which are a part of human life. The saying “human is to error” applies in almost every aspect of life. Patients rely on doctors to give them the most appropriate medication when need be and therefore, when a medical error occurs, it is important that the error is disclosed to ensure safety and trust. Without disclosing the medical error done, it may cause harm not just to the patient but also to the doctor and hospital. As a medical practitioner, it is important always to correct a medical error which has been done to ensure that the drugs administered would not create an entirely new problem. Medical errors tend to occur even if the medical practitioners are keen, but the way they are responded upon is all that matters.
References
Berlinger, N. (n.d.). Medical error. The Hastings Center . Retrieved from https://www.thehastingscenter.org/briefingbook/medical-error/
Bonney, W. (2014). Medical errors: Moral and ethical considerations. Journal of Hospital Administration, 3 (2), DOI: https://doi.org/10.5430/jha.v3n2p80
Edwin A. (2009). Non-disclosure of medical errors an egregious violation of ethical principles. Ghana medical journal , 43(1), 34–39.
Ghazal, L., Saleem, Z., & Amlani, G. (2014). A medical error: To disclose or not to disclose. Journal of Clinical Research & Bioethics. 5 (2); 1000174 - DOI: 10.4172/2155-9627.1000174
Moffatt-Bruce, S. D., Ferdinand, F. D., & Fann, J. I. (2016). Patient safety: Disclosure of medical errors and risk mitigation. Ann Thorac Surg, 2016 (102):358–62
Pharmacy Board of Australia. (2015, April 28). Guidelines for dispensing of medicines . Retrieved from https://www.pharmacyboard.gov.au/documents/default.aspx?record=WD10%2F2951&dbid=AP&chksum=WMyYdhKfX3%2BWGPiGUCLsMw%3D%3D
