Administration of Medications - Research Paper Example

? Administration of Medications Administration of Medications Introduction The administration of medicine is an ordinarybut significant clinical course of action. This process determines the approach in which a medicine is administered, considering whether the patient receives any benefit from the medication or he/she is adversely affected by the medication. For instance, intravenous (IV) furosemide directed too hurriedly can have adverse effect of causing deafness. In the same way, too much of topical steroids applied on the body can cause tapering of the skin and various dangerous side-effects. In the opinion of Shane (2009), medication administration can be considered as the “sharp edge” in the medication-use process, because errors occurred at the prescribing, dispensing, or transcribing stages, if not detected, will result in the patient receiving the medication in error. There are two factors that decide whether or not the medication will meet the anticipated site of action in the body of the patient. They are; The bioavailability of the drug: - Bioavailability is the amount of administrated medication that can affect the systematic circulation and thereby available for circulation to the anticipated site of action. Routes of administration: - The routes of administration consist of the method of carrying out the administration of drug. For the effective drug therapy and desired patient outcome, it is essential to recognize the advantages, implications, and disadvantages of the routes of administration. The administration of medication is the prime responsibility of the nurse. The procedure of administering medication involves supporting the patient with a substance given, medication, or deterrence of a clinical illness or situation. The main function of medication administration refers to the specific and absolute delivery of a medication to the patient. The nursing staff must be familiar with the large set of practices in order to attain safe and effective patient outcomes and to organize for and analyze the outcome of medication administration. The first step of medication administration starts with the prescription written by the physician and passes through different channels including nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants, etc. Nursing Responsibilities in Administration of Medication Primarily, the nurse while administrating medication should keep in mind the five rights of medications; right patient, right drug, right time, right dose, and right route of administration (Washington Poison Center, 2008). The nurses must be familiar with the responsibilities and should be duty bound to carry out these responsibilities while administering medication. The nurse should make sure that no medication is given to the patient without an accurate clinical order from a doctor clearly specifying the medication, dose, route, and schedule. To ensure the homogeneity, the medication in the solution should be shaken well before it is parted from the main drug container. In the same way, extra care should be applied while extracting drugs from large containers, and rim of the container must be wiped after taking solutions or suspensions. While administering medication, the nurse must make sure that the drugs are kept in order in a proper place, ensuring that they are not freely accessible to patients or the public. The medications must be preserved well from air, light, and moisture and only those labeled properly must be maintained in the storage. Each medication should be carefully examined regarding its storage, refrigeration and expiration dates. Hughes and Blegen (2008) point out that restricted medication like narcotics should be preserved in lockers and proper records must be maintained on the use of such medication. Nurse must be very careful while dealing with the drugs, knowing exactly the abbreviations of the mediations as well as their action, dosage, indication, route, effects, etc. It is important not to touch drugs, especially tablets and pills during medication. The medication cupboard or shelf should not be left unlocked and the medicine care and medicine tray must be placed together. A nurse should always identify the needs of a patient, but taking all precautions too. In the opinion of Alspaugh (n.d), nurse should always call the patient by name or should ask the patient to state his name. It is important that additional precautions must be taken for certain kinds of drugs. It is advised that two qualified nurse must cross-check the dosages in the cases of insulin, anticoagulants, and some IV medications. When the medication is carried out, the nurse has the responsibility to record it on the patient’s chart, with time, named of the drug, dosage and the method of administration. Evaluation of the effectiveness must be done after specific time of administration. For instance, it takes about 15-20 minutes after the administration to analyze the effectiveness of intramuscularly injected analgesic. When the administration of medications is intentionally omitted due to surgery or any other reason, it must be clearly recorded on the patient’s chart. And if there are any new orders after surgery, it must be accurately added to the chart. It is true that medication errors sometimes occur. If such errors take place, the nurse should immediately report it to the person in-charge, so that remedial measures can be taken without delay. Errors are usually recorded to an unusual incident chart which later added to the file of the organization. Roles of Nurse in the Administration of Medication The nursing profession is associated with identification and treatment of human reaction to health and illness, concentrating on a broad range of phenomena. Brunner, Smeltzer, Bare, Hinkle and Cheever (2009) holds the view that the nurse have three major roles, especially in the administration of medication; the practitioner role which included duties like providing caring, teaching, and collaborating, the leadership role, and the research role. Although each of these roles represents specific responsibilities for nurse, they all depict characteristics of general nursing positions. In many cases, nurse performs all these three roles to provide complete patient care. Practitioner Role The practitioner role of the nurse consists of actions taken by her to fulfill the health care and clinical necessities of individual patients, their families, and other important persons around him. This is the central role of the nurse at primary, secondary, and tertiary health care programs. These roles also relate with nursing practitioners at home care and community nursing. For example, a nurse should help the patient and his family members to provide sufficient care to the patient. Here, the nurse is required to maintain clinical judgment, critical thinking and awareness about the nursing process. The nurses must use the direct intervention program to assist the patient in fulfilling their needs, by providing the patient and his family members with information and guidelines to perform adequate care. Leadership Role According to Brunner, Smeltzer, Bare, Hinkle and Cheever (2009), the leadership role is generally identified as a position implicated with nurses who have titles that suggest leaderships. Due to the constant changes of health care policies and the method of health care delivery, there is an increased demand for greater leadership roles to be performed by nurses. In the broader sense, the leadership role of the nurse recognizes itself as a role inherited within all nursing positions. The leadership role included all those actions that nurses carry out when the presume accountability for the conduct of others pointed toward deciding and accomplishing patient care goals (Brunner et al). In the opinion of Brunner, et al (2009), the nursing leadership included four components: decision making, relating, influencing, and facilitating. And each of these elements provides change in the system, and ultimate outcome of care delivery is accomplished. For example, a patient who requires extra attention while taking care of and administering medication, needs a nurse who has the leadership role for communicating effectively to the patient. In fact, an effective communication system ensures the success of the process and determines the accomplishment of the objectives. Thus leadership becomes vital during all stages of nursing process. Research Role The research role of the nurse forces her to identify important researchable option participating in scientific investigation and consumer research finding; and nurse must be familiar with research process, language of research, a sensitive to issues related to human rights (Brunner, et al, 2009). The primary objective of the nursing research is to add to the scientific foundation of nursing practice. Researchers are needed to find out the effectiveness of nursing interventions and medical care. In fact, the science of nursing can only develop through adequate research, creating a generation of scientifically supported grounds for nursing service and patient care. Such research lead to good results and increased quality of care offered to the patient. The research role of the nurse is often regarded as the accountability of all nurses in clinical services. For example, if a patient has been admitted for a long time and could not find any noticeable progress in his health status, the nurses must consider researching into the issue. They must be aware of nursing problems related to patient care which can be used as the identification of researchable questions. And based on the outcomes of the research, the nurse can make alterations to the administration of medication. Conclusion The procedure of safe medication administration involves a strong support of education and practical training. Until they depict an acceptable level of knowledge and the ability to independently carry out medication administration, the staff team should take extra care and carefully oversee the duties carried out by new nurses and other professional. In the same way, the patient should be thoroughly monitored to ensure that the medication brings the anticipated effect on the patient. Thus, the physician who administers medication and other members in the clinical care system takes the leading roles in the procedures of medication administration. The clinician is liable for prescribing in clear and legible orders and for examining the reaction and response of the patient to the drug. The health care staff should always comply with the medication related policies formed to preserve the privileges of patients and the staff. They should also preserve up-to-date information and knowledge about the medication administration. References Alspaugh, L. (n.d). A guide for nurses: Teaching healthcare effectively to patients. Health Careers Journal. Retrieved from http://www.healthcareersjournal.com/a-guide-for-nurses-teaching-healthcare-effectively-to-patients/ Brunner, L. S., Smeltzer, S. C., Bare, B. G., Hinkle, J. L & Cheever, K. H. (2009). The Brunner and Suddarth’s Textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing. US: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Hughes, R. G & Blegen, M. A. (n.d). Medication administration safety. Bookshelf. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2656/ Shane, R. (1 March, 2009). Current status of administration of medicines. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 66(5), s42-s48. Washington Poison Center. (2008). The 5 rights of medicine. The Yuk Report. Retrieved from http://www.wapc.org/pdf/newsletters/yukReport_Spring08.pdf Read More