Medication Errors, Safety, Prevention And Reporting - Research Paper Example

Secondly, it is indicated that majority of hospitals suffer from shortage of medical practitioners. This puts a lot of pressure on the few who are employed to work in a given institution. There has been found a positive correlation between understaffing and medical errors. This therefore means medical errors can also be made by qualified and competent medical practitioners. Due to increased pressure in the working environment, doctors face mental and physical fatigue. This may interfere with their judgment when making prescriptions.

Others face psychological and emotional instabilities due to this type of condition. Such health providers are not motivated to work. Mathematical proficiency is said to be play a big role when making medical prescriptions. Certain calculations need to be done by those given this responsibility. A study carried on 749 students in the United States indicated that most of them did not have these skills. Over 38% of them could not pass the elements of mathematical proficiency (McCann 2011). This therefore demonstrates that some institutions of higher learning are to blame for admission of students who are not competent enough.

Lack of these basic skills in mathematical proficiency culminates in gross errors while making prescriptions. Lack of exposure and quality education in most institutions has also been linked to medical errors. Medical students need to be guided by experienced medical practitioners before they can be allowed to carry out serious procedures. However, due to shortage of such supervisors, the students do not have time to learn and put theory to practice. Several institutions have also been blamed for providing substandard medical education.

As a result,. As indicated above, most of the medical errors are committed due to the reduction in the number of doctors. It is imperative that the staff is increased to reduce pressure on those who are already employed. Shortage of doctors is a major problem not only in the developing nations but also in the developed ones such as the United States. The main aim of this will be to ensure that the workload of such medical practitioners reduces. This will make them more competent and motivated to work.

In addition to that, it is imperative to offer more incentives to nurses. These are the lowly paid members in many countries despite the fact that they offer important services. Salaries for such people should be increased for the purpose of motivating them. Secondly, the government through the ministry of higher learning should embark on vetting institutions that offer medical causes. With most of those institutions offering poor education and experience for students, the government needs to step in and close such institutions.

This is especially if such institutions are short on equipment necessary to facilitate medical education. Secondly, such medical students need to receive the best experiences during their internships. This is for the purpose of exposing them to the best medical practices that will make them more competent. Finally, medical students and newly employed medical practitioners should be taught on the importance of following the stipulated procedures and policies when carrying out their services.