A medication error refers to a mishap that takes place at any stage starting with a medical personnel prescribing a given type medication and ends with the patient receiving and even consuming the medication ( Makary & Daniel, 2016). Medicine is administered with the intent of curing, preventing and easing any pain caused by the disease. If not administered in the right manner, it can cause harmful reactions. These errors are classified into preventable errors, potential errors, and ameliorable errors. There is also another class of errors in which patients will have the right kind medication administered but will experience an unpleasant or unforeseen reaction to the drug more commonly referred to as side effects ( Makary & Daniel, 2016).
Medication errors account for at least one death each day as well as causing serious injury to over one million persons annually in the United States, this is according to the Food and Drug Administration. The errors occur in a number of ways as the medication is administered to the consumer including the packaging stage, prescription, dispensing, administering and monitoring. The medication mishaps are as a result of poor communication from the medical personnel, poor technique during the administering of a given drug, or misuse by the patient due to lack of proper guidance on the use of the product. The use of prescribed medication is wide spread in the world with statistics showing that nearly a third of adults in the United States consume up to five or more medications. Continued advancements in the medical field have resulted in major strides being made to alleviate the distress caused when one falls ill. These developments have brought along certain setbacks for patients where they suffer the risk of adverse drug event due to medication errors. The errors committed are either of omission or commission but what is clear is that by following the proper procedures, most of these errors are preventable ( Makary & Daniel, 2016).
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The frequency with which medication errors occur is not exactly known. Some of the errors go undetected and even unnoticed. A study conducted in the United States discovered that about 1.7% of the drugs dispensed from community based pharmacies were the popular culprits when it came to medication errors. The most common types of errors were attributed to wrong labels and instructions being placed on medication. There is also the situation where the hand writing by a medic may be misread and the wrong medication is given. It is vital that these medication errors are detected as it is not clear the extent to which they affect patients. When the mishaps occurring during the treatment process go unnoticed it could lead to harm to the patient and in the worst case scenario lead to death ( Makary & Daniel, 2016).
Additionally, the errors include writing the name of the patient incorrectly and writing the wrong dose on the prescription charts. Studies conducted in hospitals showed that in about 200 charts, only 7% were shown to be correctly filled and about 80% had errors that could lead to minor health risks while about 15% had errors that could lead to serious harm to the patient. Medical personnel is constantly being asked to take care when prescribing medication to patients. When presented with a prescription, most patients are none the wiser on what the medication will do for them. They entrust that the medic in question has their best interest at heart and that the pharmacist will provide them with the right medication for their condition ( Makary & Daniel, 2016).
There are several negative impacts to the healthcare system brought on by medication errors. First, it leads to death and injury of patients. The loss of a loved one can be devastating to their family and friends, but if the death was preventable then it makes it much harder for the family to cope. Even when the effects of the medication errors are minor, they still cause some level of discomfort for the patient. Most of the medication errors take place during the prescribing and administering stages. Detection of these errors is usually during the prescription stage regardless of whether the medication is taken within the confines of the hospital or without. Many of the hospitals are understaffed and the stress levels are high; when such situations occur, it is easy to overlook the necessary protocols and they are sometimes seen as a burden ( Makary & Daniel, 2016).
Another impact of medication errors is that it opens up hospitals to lawsuits when patients report these cases to the authorities. Such situations will have the hospitals resources and manpower being directed to fighting off the negative publicity that will be generated from such cases. The patients will have less trust in the hospital mandate of helping and treating them. It is clear that the state of health care is not as safe as it is supposed to be. Medication errors should not be taken lightly and in many cases, investigations find that the major cause is a breakdown in communication as well as assumption being made by doctors, nurses and other personnel within the medical setting ( Makary & Daniel, 2016).
The healthcare industry suffers direct and indirect costs as a result of the medication errors. The direct costs include higher expenditures for the patients and the hospitals. It is estimated that for each dollar spent on medication in the hospital or during ambulatory movements, another dollar is spent treating problems brought on by the medication provided. Not all health problems are caused by improper prescriptions but for the most part, those that are caused by the medication errors are preventable. The errors that cause harm are costly to the overall national health expenditure ( Makary & Daniel, 2016).
High error rates are likely to occur in operating rooms, ICU, and the emergency rooms. It is estimated that hospitals spend between $17 and $29 billion each year. The blame is placed solely on the flawed system than on an overworked staff. Even as the government looks to enforce a culture the focuses on the safety of the patients, there are certain barriers that prevent such a culture from being implemented. The number one barrier is that there is a high deniability as to the severity of the problem as well a lack of awareness as to the prevalence of medication errors. The second barrier is the assumption that healthcare professionals perform their duties with the utmost care and it was almost impossible to make preventable mistakes. They work under the presumption that such errors are made by careless and incompetent professionals ( Makary & Daniel, 2016).
When patients check into hospitals or seek medication, they are entrusting that the medical personnel they encounter to help them in alleviating the pain or discomfort they are experiencing. Medication provided to patients is designed to improving their health. In many cases, patients are harmed by the medication they are prescribed and it turns out that the damage was preventable, then the patient loses hope and feels robbed of the expectation they had of getting better. The results are even harder to comprehend when the damage results in the death of a patient ( Levinson, Yeung, & Ginsburg, 2016).
One woman, Martha, lost her daughter to a series of infections as a result of a prolonged hospital stay. Post mortem results showed that the infections were treatable and that error in the nursing care was to blame for the demise of her daughter. Such are the situations that individuals find themselves in and it becomes difficult to understand why medics could let such trends carry on. The patients will suffer varied episodes of stress and depression as they try to come to terms with the loss. Most of the patients and their families are often intimidated by doctors and nurses and they will be too scared to ask questions or speak up. Since they understand that the medics are aware of what is the best course of action for them and their loved ones, they will rarely question the procedures being administered ( Kohn et al, 2000) .
Patients are also subjected to high costs when their stay is hospital is extended. They may be forced to pay more for the additional care they are subjected to once the medication error is realized. Some of the patients do not fully recover from the errors brought on by the medication. There are those who suffer from paralysis and they fail to recover from the state they find themselves in. One parent stated that his son was rendered completely paralyzed from an anesthesia injection that went wrong. It was preventable and now his son cannot walk or talk and he has to care for him round the clock; a simple procedure turned into a nightmare for this family ( Levinson et. al, 2016).
Some of the patients will stop taking a given dosage when they feel that the side effects are too much for them. Some of the doctors or nurses will insist on the patient completing their dosage even without asking the reason for the initial pause and this can make the situation worse. Patients and their family members will lose trust and faith in the health care organization ( Levinson et. al, 2016).
Medication errors are inevitable in the health care environment. While the impact of these errors is often addressed for the patients and their families, the personnel who administer the treatment are left to deal with the consequences of these actions. These physicians hold themselves in high standards even considering their actions being up to perfection with no room for error. They understand that the patients they attend to and their family expects the hospital to be error free, so when such a situation occurs it leaves the physicians with emotional scars as they feel that they have let down their charges. Many medical professionals have stated that they feel guilty, stressed and self-critical where they have made medication errors. ( Plews-Ogan et al, 2016) .
When the medication error is discovered, the medical professions may be at odds on how to disclose the news to the patients ( Levinson et al, 2016). They are afraid that the news may cause harm to the relationship they have formed and the patient may not choose to continue with treatment from that given medic. The patient may also choose to open legal procedures against the medic and this will place their job at risk. Serious situations such as death have seen medical professionals being suspended and even losing their license to practice. Hospitals do not like placing the blame on the medics and will instead point fingers at the failed health care system ( Levinson et al, 2016).
The medics, unlike the patients, do not have the chance to air their feelings, their fears and so forth as is the case with the patients they serve. They see any admittance of discomfort as a sign of incompetence and they may not have the backing of their colleagues should they be seen to falling apart. This is an unhealthy way to deal with issues especially for one who is expected to deal with a variety of persons on a daily basis ( Levinson et al, 2016) . Medics who are feeling anxious after being the victim of a medication error may not have 100% concentration and this will further affect their job leading to more errors in the future.
Hospital administration needs to make the well-being of their medics a priority as a way of safe guarding the safety of their patients and their personnel as well ( Plews-Ogan et al, 2016) . Physicians reported feeling distressed after errors occurred and they were anxious about having a repeat of the same. The higher the severity of the error the more the medics will be distressed. Many of the hospitals do not support the medics when they are faced with medical errors and this leads to them not finding adequate ways of coping with the stresses they face ( Plews-Ogan et al, 2016) .
According to Plews-Ogan et al (2016) , the biggest cause of medication errors is miscommunication. The physicians need to ensure that during shift changes they get the right information regarding the care of the patients they are about to attend to. The protocols placed in the hospitals such as checklists should not be overlooked. It is this small thing that leads to repeated mistakes. As the doctors and the nurses make rounds checking on the patients admitted to the hospital, they have discussions on the best care to be given to these patients. It has been recommended that pharmacists be part of these rounds. This way, the pharmacists are able to give their input as to the effects that the medication being written up will bring to the patient ( Plews-Ogan et al, 2016) .
Medication errors during the prescription stage may be avoided if the pharmacist is aware of the medical history of the patient. They will be better placed to catch mistakes on medication and dosage given. Other errors occur due to neglect from the hospital in terms of hygiene. To keep germs from spreading and infecting the patients during their stay, the hospital needs to be vigilant on the cleanliness as this will lead to reduced cases of infections. Hospitals need to instill and insist on their staff and visitors practicing proper hand hygiene. Where mistakes are made during diagnosis, communication should be accurate with the entire team. Where each person is not afraid to speak up where an inconsistency is detected then it will result in fewer errors occurring ( Kohn et al, 2000) .
In conclusion, hospitals should implement an error reporting system as this goes a long way in detecting errors when they occur ( Plews-Ogan et al, 2016) . Open communication among medics should be insisted, but more emphasis should be placed on the patient-doctor relation. Such a situation ensures that the patient is made aware of the treatment they are being taken through. They are able to understand the effects the medication may have on them and so when they experience different result they can speak up and this is followed up. Physicians should not intimidate their patients with medical lingo they may not be able to understand, instead, the diagnosis they make should be well understood so as to ensure that the care is continued even after the patient leaves the hospital ( Plews-Ogan et al, 2016) .
References
Kohn, L.T., Corrigan, J.M., Donaldson, M.S. (2000). To err is Human: Building a Safer Health System. Washington DC: National Academy Press
Makary, M. A., & Daniel, M. (2016). Medical error—the third leading cause of death in the US. Bmj , 353 , i2139.
Levinson, W., Yeung, J., & Ginsburg, S. (2016). Disclosure of medical error. Jama , 316 (7), 764-765.
Plews-Ogan, M., May, N., Owens, J., Ardelt, M., Shapiro, J., & Bell, S. K. (2016). Wisdom in medicine: what helps physicians after a medical error? Academic Medicine , 91 (2), 233-241.
