10 Strategies for Preventing Medication Errors (2023)

FAQs

What are the top 10 reasons for medication errors? ›

Adopt a reporting system.

The only way to reduce medication errors is to develop a reporting system and then make changes to prevent similar errors from reoccurring. Even a near miss should be reported. The staff should be encouraged to report without any repercussions.

It is important to remember that a medication error can result in patient morbidity and even mortality. Also, these errors can negatively affect the reputation of a healthcare facility and lead to high institutional and governmental costs.

Report the event to the hospital and professional advisors. Encourage an open approach to error to facilitate more reporting. Disclose the event to the patient and family. Provide full details of the event, being clear, concise, and timely.

"Use the measuring device that comes with the medicine," suggests Fitzpatrick. "If you don't have a medicine device for measuring your liquid medicine, ask for one at the pharmacy." Also, read the patient medication information that comes with your prescription thoroughly before using your medication.

What are 5 common causes of medication errors? ›

Common causes of medication error include incorrect diagnosis, prescribing errors, dose miscalculations, poor drug distribution practices, drug and drug device related problems, incorrect drug administration, failed communication and lack of patient education.

Medication errors are common in hospitals, but only about 1 in a 100 actually results in harm to the patient. Conversely, only about 30% of injuries due to drugs in hospitals are associated with a medication error, and are thus preventable.

As nurses, we are often the last “gatekeeper” in the administration process to prevent medication errors. It is important to take the time needed to ensure patient safety, and to minimize distractions throughout the process.

Physicians can help reduce medication errors by writing legibly, avoiding verbal orders, and not using abbreviations. Reporting deficiencies in packaging, labeling, and presentation of drug products to manufacturers and the FDA may help prevent future errors.

To ensure safe medication preparation and administration, nurses are trained to practice the “7 rights” of medication administration: right patient, right drug, right dose, right time, right route, right reason and right documentation [12, 13].

What is medication strategy? ›

Introduction. The Medication Management strategy is an effort to engage patients and families to actively participate with you in developing a complete and accurate medication list from which you can complete medication reconciliation.

something known as the '6 R's', which stands for right resident, right medicine, right route, right dose, right time, resident's right to refuse. what to do if the person is having a meal or is asleep.

Correct your error(s) by making sure minimal or no harm is done by addressing the problem right away. Once the error is under control, follow the policies of your organization so the error can be understood and learned from as a means of preventing a similar occurrence from happening in the future.

Taking ownership of the error and doing the right thing by putting the patient first is the only realistic course of action. Take immediate corrective measures. Inform the patient's doctor of the mistake so that action can be taken as soon as possible to counteract the effects of the incorrect medication.

The top five medical errors are misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, medication error, infection, and harmful medical devices. The top five medical errors are responsible for most instances of medical malpractice in health care.

What are the 3 main sources of medical errors? ›

dispensing the formulation—wrong drug, wrong formulation, wrong label; administering or taking the drug—wrong dose, wrong route, wrong frequency, wrong duration; monitoring therapy—failing to alter therapy when required, erroneous alteration.

someone else has made a medication error, you must IMMEDIATELY REPORT THE ERROR TO THE RN CM/DN AND APPROPRIATELY DOCUMENT THE ERROR. According to your agency's policy, your supervisor should also be notified.

Common causes of medication error include incorrect diagnosis, prescribing errors, dose miscalculations, poor drug distribution practices, drug and drug device related problems, incorrect drug administration, failed communication and lack of patient education.

Wrong dose, missing doses, and wrong medication are the most commonly reported administration errors. Contributing factors to patient and caregiver error include low health literacy, poor provider–patient communication, absence of health literacy, and universal precautions in the outpatient clinic.

Common sources of error include instrumental, environmental, procedural, and human. All of these errors can be either random or systematic depending on how they affect the results. Instrumental error happens when the instruments being used are inaccurate, such as a balance that does not work (SF Fig. 1.4).

What are the top 10 most common medications? ›

Right Dose Illegible prescriber's handwriting, a transcription error, miscalculation of the amount, or misreading the label can result in errors of an incorrect dose of medication Carefully read and clarify drug orders Recheck labels Have two nurses double-check potent medications Common sources of errors Insulin ...