Medical Administration Records Sheet (MARS) - Essay Example

Medical Administration Records Sheet (MARS) A medical administration record is a report or record of all drugs that have been administered to a particular patient by any health care professional. It forms part of a patient’s permanent record in medical chart of a health care professional. The signature of the health care professional is very important on the records as it serves to authenticate the records. The other name for a medical administration record is a drug chart. In the contemporary world it is possible to administer drugs via the internet through electronic commerce and such records are referred to as e-MARS.

The chart itself varies from one hospital to the other. However there are basic components that must be included in whichever hospital or country. The obvious components are the patient’s name, patient medical record, ward and bed number where the patient was confined, the details of the treating team, and other variables like weight. All these are recorded on the demographics part. There is also a prescription part which records the name of the drug, the strength of the dosage, the route which can be either liquid or solid drugs, the frequency of the drugs administered, diagnosis, the details of the prescribing doctor and his signature.

The most important benefit of keeping a medical administration record is of course for future reference. This means that if the patient comes back with the same or different complications the health care professional can always refer to the record to know what the patient had been diagnosed of in the last check-up. This would help a great deal in the present diagnosis. The health care professional may be able to determine if the present problem is a complication of the past problem or rather if it is associated or if the case is totally different.

If the cases are related the health care professional may change the drugs or the dosages as some patients react different on different dosages and drugs. Some drugs would also not be compatible with others administered later thus it is important to always have a record of the past dosages so as to ensure what is administered later is compatible with the drugs formerly administered. Another importance of the medical administration record is to hold the health care professional for any medical treatment that he gives to a patient.

As a professional the medical health care professional owes a duty of care to the patient. The health professional must do all that a reasonable person in his professional would do to cure the patient or to prevent further harm to the patient. One such example is where the health care professional may be negligent and as such administer the wrong drugs causing patient death or deterioration. In such a case the health care professional who signed the medical professional would be held liable for his negligent act.

It is thus important to enable the medical professionals own up to their mistakes. In such a case if the patient ever sues the health professional then such a doctor would be liable to pay damages for the harm caused to the patient. These medical administration records are the documentation that help a hospital determine which health care professional is responsible in case of any negligent mistakes that arise. As a reasonable person in the health professional one is required to know the right dosages and when wrong dosage is administered it harms the patient.

In such a case the health care profession ought to pay and remedy the patient for any damages or harm that is caused by such negligent over dosage. If these records were not available then it would be hard for the hospital to determine the personal responsible for any mistakes that were done thereby making a hospital liable generally. These records are also important for any drugs administered online via e-commerce as they help in making the administering health professional responsible for any outcomes that arise as a result of medication.

Works citedHarpwood, Brown. The importance of a medical administration record. United Kingdom Taylor and Francis: (2009).PrintHugh, Christopher. Medical administration systems. United kingdom. Cambridge publishers: (2003).PrintLunney, Mark., and Oliphan, Kant. Health care systems. United kingdom. Oxford publishers: (2005).Print