Medications and Safe Administration Workbook - Assignment Example

RUNNING HEAD: Medications and Safe Administration Workbook Name Course Instructor Date Medications and Safe Administration Workbook Question1 Regardless of their various areas of specialty, registered nurses (RNs) have general responsibilities within the medication cycle. They record the symptoms and medical histories of patients, carry out diagnostic tests and analyze the results, conduct medical operations such as injections , administer medication and follow-up on patients progress and rehabilitations sessions. In addition to this, RNs explain to patients and their families on how to go about self-administration of medication, post-treatment home care needs and teach them how to manage the illness. Some RNs educate the general public on symptoms and warning signs of diseases hence promoting general health (Hope 2003). The medical officer is responsible of general administration of the medical department and ensures that discipline is upheld in the department. He prepares and submits budget estimates of the departments and plan proposals for the hospital buildings and equipments on an annual basis. Besides this, he conducts regular inspection on the hospital departments and organizes trainings for the employees. The major role of pharmacists is to administer drugs prescribed by doctors. They ensure that the drugs are of high quality, legal and suitable for the specific patients. They advice patients on how to take the medication, alert them of potentials reactions and provide answers to questions that patients might ask (Hale 2007). Question 2 It is evident that the regulation of Therapeutic Goods and Administration (TGA) varies within jurisdiction found in various countries. The role of TGA is mainly designed to protect safety and health of the population. It is aimed in ensuring that quality, safety and efficacy of the various therapeutic goods that are covered within the scope of the regulation in TGA (Australian government 2011). In most jurisdictions worldwide, therapeutic goods are required to be registered before they are marketed Some degree of restrictions on availability of certain therapeutic goods is made depending on the kind of risks they are likely to impose to their customers. Question 3 In Australia, before new medication is prescribed it must be approved. Medicine manufacturers are expected to apply for its medicine approval so as to be subsidized under Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (PBS). Government is supposed to pay a certain cost when any medication is subsidized under PBS. The process involved in approval is in two separate processes namely; TGA approval and PBS listing. Before PBS listing takes place TGA should satisfy that a particular medicine meet manufacturing standards which include; quality, effectiveness and safety (Patel & Johnson, 2008). The process involved in PBS listing entails Pharmaceutical Benefit Advisory Committee (PBAC) to decide if that certain medicine works better than other medicine in treating a particular illness. It is then expected that PBAC recommend this medicine to PBS where later the government is expected to accept the recommendation. PBS listing is unique in that pharmaceutical companies are expected to prove its manufactured medicine is worth price been asked of the government. Question 4 It is evident that within the medical field, there are several causes and risks linked to medication miss and error event. According to Fraser & Levinson (2003), a medical error or medication miss is defined as the failure to finish planned action as it was intended or usage of wrong plan in achieving medical aims. Causes of medical error are usually due to new procedures, complex care, inexperienced nurses, extreme age and urgent care. Causes of medical errors can be divided into various categories namely; healthcare complexity, system and process design, competency (in education and training), and finally human factors and ergonomics (Fraser & Levinson, 2003). Based on healthcare complexity, medical error can occur due to complicated technologies, new drugs, intensive care and use of powerful drugs. Based on system and process design, it is said that medical error does not occur by health profession rather by bad system within medical facilities. There can be poor communication whereby within a health facility there are unclear lines of various authorities, nurses and supporting workers (Fraser & Levinson, 2003). The system may have disconnecting reporting systems whereby there are numerous hands-offs of patients that result to error and lack of coordination. If there are inadequate systems then error may occur thus hampering ways of improving strategies. Research indicate that infrastructure failure have made treatments and medical procedures to fail resulting to substandard treatment. Focusing on education, training and competencies, lack of proper training for medical professional can lead variation in medical healthcare. Lack of competency in delivery of medical attention increases the prevalence and seriousness of various medical errors (Fraser & Levinson, 2003). Finally, human factors and ergonomics have been cited to be a main contributing factor in various medical errors. Human factors are namely; depression and burnout, unfamiliarity with the settings, time pressures and complication that arises due to increased patient to nurse recruitment ratio. Barach & Small (2000) maintains that, through the use of systems approach such as team, task, individual, patient and environment appropriate strategies are implement to ensure reduction of the error. On the individual part, one should be able to forgive oneself as a way of decrease a cycle of distress. Accepting a mistake and making constructive changes so avoid the likelihood of such an error occurring. Based on patient, patient disclosure is a very important strategy. Disclosing an error to a patient provides information to the patient of error occurrence and why the error occurred. By so doing it becomes easier for a medical practitioner understand how the error occurred and how such reoccurrences can be prevented. This ensures that an open line of communication is implemented within health facilities. Barach & Small (2000) asserts that, a strategy should be implemented that will make individual understand that error does not occur only due to negligence but rather failure in disclosing them. Based on team, strategies should be made in that in case of a medical error it should be discussed with other practitioners. This goes together with environment as this ensures that subsequent errors are greatly reduced (Barach & Small, 2000). Environment which in this case is physician institution may be included as a strategy to be implementation so as such problems are avoided and are put into books by the large institution. Question 5 Paracetamol also known as Acetaminophen has many brand names and they differ in from country to country. They include Panadol, Tylenol, Ace +, Depox, Panamax, Aceta, Tapanol among others. Research studies have been continually conducted to determine the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of paracetamol. Paracetamol is distributed widely throughout the body with good penetration to most body tissues except fat. Although it does not readily bind serum proteins, paracetamol is able to penetrate the celebralspinal fluid. Elimination of paracetamol is via hepatic metabolism which follows three main metabolic pathways; sulphate conjugation, glucuronide conjugation and N- hydroxylation. Acetaminophen half-life varies depending on age with neonates having the longest half-life while infants have the shortest. Adolescents and adults have similar half-lives. Paracetamols are known to have good antipyretic and analgesic properties which make them suitable painkillers for treating a wide range of pains such as dental pain, headaches, pain experienced during colds, post-operative and post-traumatic muscle pains. They are also suitable for treating dysmenorrheal, migraine headaches and joint pains and as a mild pain killer in cancer when combined with opioids. The recommended dose for adults is 500mg (1 tablet), 3-4 times daily. Treatment may go for up to 10 days depending on the doctor’s prescription. The most appropriate route for administration for adults is the oral route. Research has indicated that the oral route provides a wider distribution of the drug than the intravenous route in adults. Potential side effects include extreme tiredness, sweating, vomiting, rashes, nausea, loss of appetite, flu-like symptoms, stomach cramps, swelling of eyes and difficulty in swallowing and breathing. A doctor should be consulted before administering paracetamol to a child. Paracetamols should not be given to children with throat infections or to patients with renal and liver diseases. It is also not advisable for pregnant women to take preparations with paracetamol during their first trimester (Laurie 2000). Question 6 Considering that Ms Dorrie is elderly, a medical education session will go a long way to help her in following the medication consistently. Firstly, I will advice her on drug dosage. For her, she is supposed to consume 1 tablet 3 times a day for about seven days. If the paracetamol was administered to increases the biodiversity of other drugs that she was given, failure to complete the dose means reduced efficacy of all the other drugs. I will give her some dangers of taking an overdose which include development of glutathione deficiency which leads to acute liver failure. In addition to this, I will advice her on the appropriate route of administration. If she does not suffer from a throat infection, the tablets will be taken orally (Laurie 2000). The tablets should not be split, chewed or dissolved in water but they should be swallowed whole with plenty of water. The drugs should be taken after meals to reduce occurrence of side effects and to ensure fast metabolism and absorption. If she has family members accompanying her I will also advice them on post-treatments homecare needs. They are supposed to ensure that Dorrie takes the medicine as prescribed, the right kind of food physical therapy and exercises that will assist in boosting her immune system. If she experiences adverse side effects such as swelling and redness, she is supposed to stop the medication immediately call her doctor for alternative medication (Laurie 2000). Persistence of symptoms for more than 3 days after commencement of medications calls for the doctor’s attention. Finally, I will give her the benefits of complying with all the instructions. Besides receiving complete treatment from the medication, she will acquire important tips on drug use which might be useful in future or to other family members. References Australian government. (2011). Therapeutic goods administration. Australia regulatory authority for therapeutic goods. Retrieved on 27th August 2011 from Barach, P & Small, S. (2000). "Reporting and preventing medical mishaps: lessons from non-medical near miss reporting systems". BMJ 320 (7237): 759–63. Fraser, V & Levinson, W. (2003). "Patients' and physicians' attitudes regarding the disclosure of medical errors". JAMA 289 (8): 1001–7 Hale, S. (2007). Pharmacist: Responsibility and duties. Retrieved on 25th August 2011 from http://www.helium.com/items/208031-pharmacist-responsibilities-and-duties. Hope, K. (2003). Understanding the role of registered general nurses and care assistant in UK nursing homes. Journal of advanced nursing. 42(5) 497-505 Laurie, F. (2000). Paracetamol: Past, Present and future. American journal of therapeutics. 7(2): 56-61 Read More