Preventable Medication Errors Essay Example for Free

Preventable Medication Errors Essay In this essay I am going to discuss what the most common medication errors are, as well as discussing how these errors can be prevented. What are Common Medication Errors? â€Å"Drug errors are defined as unintentional acts, committed by healthcare providers involving medications (Medscape, 2007). Medication errors happen due to ignorance and lack of consciously being observant as to what is going on around them. Granted humans are only humans, and being is indefinitely going to result in human error. However, most of the common medication errors are a result of administering the wrong dosage of a medication, mixing medications with alcohol or simply confusing two medications that have similar names, such as Adderall vs. Inderal. â€Å" According to the national Medication Error Reporting Program, confusion caused by similar drug names accounts for up to 25 percent of all reported errors (Caring, 2008). Insulin is a common medication that is incorrectly administered by patients. Patients sometimes â€Å"double up† on the dosage to make up for a missed dose, or think they are in need of the extra medication. Doubling the dosage of any medication will result in very negative consequences or sometimes more often than not death. Ignorance and medication make for a deadly cocktail, knowing this truth, it is important to be aware of the dangers of mixing alcohol with prescribed medications. Synergism is the mixing of prescription medication with alcohol in order to receive a greater effect of the medication. Knowingly or even unknowingly consuming alcohol with prescription medication can result in permanent physical problems and/or even death. Administering the incorrect dosage of medication, as well as mixing medication with alcohol, or making a simple mistake in the identity of a similar medication are just three of numerous errors happening every day in hospitals and outpatient facilities in the United States. It is highly important to leave no room for error as a medical assistant by consciously being aware of these errors and making it a point to avoid them by checking the medications three times, checking the dosage being administered and being aware of any current prescriptions or alcohol history of the patient. What Can You Do to Prevent Medication Errors in the Practice? If the healthcare workers in the field follow the â€Å"Golden Rule† of the 7 patient rights which are: right patient, right medication, right dose, right route, right time, right technique, and right documentation, they will lower the risk of making medication errors. The patients 7 rights were implemented for this very reason, to prevent error in the field and make for a safer healthcare setting. Cognitive psychologists report that the human brain is creative and is wired to make errors (Medscape, 2007) As a medical assistant I can constantly be aware of the risks in not checking medications at least 3 times before administering the medication to a patient that I have personally confirmed to be the recipient of the medication. By making myself aware of a patient’s health history and any possible alcohol use will help ensure the patient’s safety and use of a medication. I believe that it is important in this field to leave nothing to ignorance, but by checking and re-checking the medication prescribed and the routes it is administered will greatly reduce any possible errors in a healthcare practice facility. Conclusion Preventable medication errors can be avoided by following the patient’s 7 rights of drug administration, and educating patients on the safety precautions that should be taken and making them fully aware of the dangers in not doing so. The communication and education of administering medications will help to lower healthcare costs and save the lives of many innocent victims due to medication errors. References: http://www. medscape. org/viewarticle/556487 http://www. caring. com/articles/medication-mistakes http://www. medscape. org/viewarticle/550273