Quality healthcare is an aspect strategized around by different stakeholders in the United States. Individuals are increasingly becoming health conscious and aware of safety within healthcare institutions. Regardless of the multifaceted changes witnessed in different healthcare systems, medical errors continue to be a significant challenge plaguing various healthcare institutions. According to a study conducted by John Hopkins, approximately 250,000 Americans die annually due to medical error-related complications. Another report by NCBI asserts that expenses related to managing such errors annually in the US exceed $40 billion. A significant concern is most of the errors and related outcomes go unreported; hence, the problem could be worse than it is estimated. The different factors that influence patient safety as they relate to medical error need to be managed using evidence-based approaches and other interventions by healthcare stakeholders to enhance patients’ safety.
Medical errors occur at different stages of healthcare administration and are influenced by a myriad of factors. Errors are mainly realized during medication ordering, documentation of the prescribed drugs, transcribing, dispensing, administering, or in some cases, monitoring. While the most common are errors caused during administration, it is worth noting that intricate errors could be realized due to mistakes in the storage of medication or handling. Errors in medication administration could be caused by incorrect administration duration, incorrect preparation and before final administration, wrong rates, timing, strength, or even dosage ( Tariq et al., 2020) . The above issues are influenced mainly by the distraction of medical personnel. Nurses are primarily tasked with administering medication and taking care of many patients; hence, they might be in a rush to fulfill their obligations. Additionally, in times such as the Covid-19 pandemic, where healthcare facilities are overwhelmed with critically ill patients who need immediate attention, nurses are required to act and respond to each patient’s needs swiftly. In such cases, understaffed facilities are likely to experience increased medical errors because nurses could be overwhelmed or burnout ( Tsiga et al., 2017). Other peripheral courses that result in administration errors include illegible handwriting and prescription distortions.
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Evidence-based and best practices solutions that would reduce medical errors and enhance patient safety are associated with the physicians who mainly cause such errors and other stakeholders who are likely to drive change in the medication administration process. One of the approaches is strict adherence to the Joint Commission Patient Safety Goals. Some of those goals that apply to medical administration are double-checking labels before administration and enhancing communication between different medical personnel ( Rodziewicz et al., 2021). Others include identifying patients’ safety, dangers, and risks, ensuring the correct medicine is passed to the next provider and double checking patients’ identity before administration of medication. Besides this, institutions should put in place policies that require healthcare personnel to report medical errors. Coupled with the above, root-cause analysis and failure mode effect analysis should be carried out in institutions to analyze the possible causes of errors and gain insight on how to strategize around medical error reduction. Professional development should also be a continuous process, especially among nurses or physicians who are likely to deal with error-prone situations or medication that are likely to result in errors. Most importantly, healthcare institutions should ensure their personnel are qualified and always adhere to evidence-based healthcare practices in medicine administration. The above would reduce the cost related to responding to sentinel medical errors.
Nurses can help in care coordination to increase patient safety by cultivating a culture that supports patient safety. This can be done through comprehensive communication between them and patients ( Yanchuk et al., 2019). Collaboration with stakeholders responsible for enhancing healthcare infrastructure could also help. As they are essential patient welfare advocates, they can also advocate for their rights, especially a desirable working environment that facilitates communication and collaboration to reduce errors that result from poor coordination of care. Most importantly, nurses can be part of the change through enhanced professional development. While some errors result from distraction and environmental aspects, the need for nurses to have in-depth experience on how to administer healthcare while considering all evidence-based recommendations is essential. They should have the skills to operate as required even when under pressure to act because of medical emergencies accurately. Additionally, professional development would help them better understand how to respond to errors immediately they occur to ensure manageable situations do not exacerbate. This would, in turn, reduce the cost because quick intervention is likely to reduce adverse outcomes.
To enhance patient safety, nurses can collaborate with stakeholders within the healthcare field and outside. Patients are the first primary stakeholders to collaborate with. Patients should understand that increased understanding and communication with the nurses is likely to reduce errors. Nurses should also collaborate with doctors, physicians, and their fellow nurses to ensure excellent coordination and within a healthcare institution ( Morley et al., 2017). Private healthcare providers and researchers could also shed light on ways to reduce medical errors, hence, could be an essential resource for nurses. Most importantly, they should collaborate with the government and professional associations to ensure there are evidence-based guidelines used in a healthcare setting to reduce the possibility of medical errors.
In conclusion, medical error is one of the aspects that significantly undermines patient’s safety. They mainly occur during medication administration due to distraction. There is, however, a need for healthcare personnel to adhere to evidence-based healthcare practices to reduce medical errors. An example is an adherence to the Joint Commission Patient Safety Goals. Nurses can enhance coordination of care through commitment to such standards, professional development, and advocacy of patient safety. This can help in the reduction of errors and related costs. Most importantly, their coordination with stakeholders such as patients, other healthcare providers, the government, and professional associations is likely to help strategize around the issue.
References
Morley, L., & Cashell, A. (2017). Collaboration in health care. Journal of medical imaging and radiation sciences , 48 (2), 207-216.
Tariq, R. A., Vashisht, R., & Scherbak, Y. (2020). Medication errors. StatPearls [Internet] .
Rodziewicz, T. L., Houseman, B., & Hipskind, J. E. (2021). Medical Error Reduction and Prevention. StatPearls [Internet]; StatPearls Publishing: Treasure Island, FL, USA .
Tsiga, E., Panagopoulou, E., & Montgomery, A. (2017). Examining the link between burnout and medical error: A checklist approach. Burnout Research , 6 , 1-8.
Yanchuk, O., Zaporozhchenko, A. O., Katerynchuk, I. P., Kuznichenko, S. O., & Kryzhanovska, O. V. (2019). Legal consequences, measures of prevention and reduction of medical malpractice cases (errors).
