NHS FPX 4000 Assignment 3 Analyzing a Current Health Care Problem or Issue NHS FPX 4000 Assignment 3 Attempt 1 Analyzing a Current Health Care Problem or Issue

According to National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Prevention and Analysis (NCCMERP,2021), a medication error is defined as “any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of a healthcare provider, patient or consumer”. Some of the factors associated with this cause are transcript errors, look -alike, sound -alike medication packages, and nurse- patient ratio. This assessment will expand upon mediation errors issue, analysis of the problem/issue, potential solutions for the problem, ethical considerations, and implementation of the solution. 

                     Elements of the Problem/Issue 

Medication errors can be detrimental to a patient’s health and they pose a serious threat to a patient’s safety. These errors can add significant harm or even death to patients. The data shows that in the United States more than 250,000 deaths per year are appertaining to medication errors (Dirik et.al, 2019). A medication error can increase the length of stay at the hospital and the cost of the treatment. 

NHS FPX 4000 Assignment 3 Attempt 1 Analyzing a Current Health Care Problem or Issue

Medication administration is a high-risk nursing task. Drug error can happen at any phase such as prescribing, dispensing, transcribing, and administering. A few factors that can contribute to this error can be high-risk medications, exhaustion and fatigue of healthcare workers, and look alike -sound alike medication. 

High risk medications can cause serious injury or even death when incorrectly used. These medications include heparin, insulin, and IV potassium chloride (Mancha, et.al, 2019). This journal analyzed the circumstances that could lead to high- risk medication errors by monitoring calls to the hospital pharmacy to clarify doses, routes of administration and so forth. Medication error with high risk medication often occurs due to a lack of knowledge of medication. Most of the healthcare settings, require two professional registered nurses to verify the order and medication before the drug administration. 

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Look like /Sound alike (LASA) medications are another factor contributing to medication error. Shao et.al (2018) reiterate in their journal the need for constant attention needed by healthcare professionals, medical industry and regulatory authorities to avoid look alike medication packages in the interest of medication safety. Medication error prevention requires clinical vigilance. For example, In a 2016 study, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)approved a name change for the Brintellix, an antidepressant to Trintellix after citing 55 reports of confusion with the blood thinner name Brilinta and 2 documented incidences of serious adverse events. 

Another element that could attribute to a medication error is the exhaustion and the fatigue of health care workers from overworking. COVID 19 pandemic contributed substantial modifications to nurses’ day to day work which includes redeployment to priority areas that were unfamiliar to many of the nurses, mandatory full-time work schedules, and overtime hours. Burnouts can negatively impact patient care. A high level of “burnout” is an indicator of a reduction in perceived patient safety among critical care nurses (Alma’ Mari, et.al, 2020). 

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                             Analysis 

The main goal of nurses is to provide excellent and quality care to all patients. Medication errors pose significant risks to patients as they can be sometimes fatal. To maintain a safe environment and to avoid medication errors it is important for all health care professionals starting from ordering physicians to transcribing pharmacists to the nurse administering medication to follow the safe medication practices. The prevalence of medication error in an emergency room is moderately high. These errors include wrong medication or overdose/underdose. The emergency room is busy in nature and always has a heavy workload with requires attention of multiple specialties, various disease conditions requiring high-alert medications, and patients