The Nurses Responsibility in the Prevention of Medication Errors - Essay Example

Thus, this area needs careful administration in order to avoid unhappy accidents caused by the medication error. When a student studies in medical higher institution, he/she is told that a healthcare professional should not make any mistakes at all, as they are not excusable in the area of medicine. Everybody makes mistakes but a doctor must not as he/she simply does not have a right to do that. “Any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care professional, patient, or consumer” is defined by the newest legislation as a medication error (cited in Preventing Medication Errors).

Moreover, medication errors usually lead to court cases. Unfortunately, the number of medication errors in the modern society is very high and tend to increase. The main reasons are the following: Ignorance of drug management rights; The absence of regular drug check. Healthcare workers are obliged to check medications before giving them to patients; The absence of appropriate patient administration. The state of patient’s health may vary so only recent tests should be taken into account when prescribing medicines; Giving drugs to patient being unsure about the dosage and medication appropriateness.

Nurses should remember that in the modern world medicine develops fast. New illnesses people die from make pharmacists work hard to invent new medicines. Thus, new drugs appear every day and it makes it necessary for nurses to trace the development of new drugs, to study them carefully in order not to appear in a situation when the prescribed drugs are unfamiliar to them. A nurse should not give a drug to patient if she does not know its characteristics and what it is used for. It may be the cause of medical error.

It is also very important to remember that a drug that is used for adults, not always can be used for children or its dosage should be corrected. Unluckily, last time many medication errors reported are connected with children, who should be safe first of all. “Drugs approved for adults are often used for children under the age of 12, although they aren't formulated for pediatric use” (Hospital medication errors frequent with children). Reporting medical errors is also a big problem. Unfortunately, if a medical error occurs, medical personnel prefer to conceal it rather than to report.

Such behavior is caused by the fear of humiliation, of shame, of loosing job etc. However a fear can’t be considered as an excuse as timely reported error can save somebody’s life. Unluckily, nurses often forget about that (Tackling medication errors: European Medicines Agency workshop calls for coordinated EU approach). There are several measures that should be necessarily taken by the nurse to prevent medical errors. The first is the appropriate evaluation. A nurse should find out if a patient has any contra-indications to this or that medicine, make necessary tests to define the state of his/her health.

Secondly, it is necessary to create a plan of medicines taking, define the right dose and warn the patient about possible side effects. The third important step is to advise the patients to apply to nurse in case he has any doubts about the drug prescribed (dose, size, color etc.). The final important prevention measure is the assessment of outcomes. It is very essential to check the state of the patient in order to trace the