Safe Medication Administration - Essay Example

Safe Medication Administration My practicum project is about Safe Medication Administration. As a nurse educator, I have the strong will to bring a change in pharmacological field, which I believe has started to become a global problem. I believe that for there to be a change it must start at an individual level. Therefore, my engagement in this field is to bring a significant change towards achieving safe medication administration by starting at the primary level, and that is nursing students. This improvement will positively affect my practicum site, Butler Tech, and will further improve the situation for other organizations where the nurses I will be teaching will be posted. For this project, I will be involved in teaching nursing students how to pass medication effectively and how to ensure a safe medication administration and use. I will actively use modern technology such as simulation medication carts in the lab sessions to teach students how to pass medication effectively. The set-up of the teaching environment that I will be working in will involve the use of medication carts, which I will label, a medication record that will consist of counterfeit medicine, and some simulation dummies. The success of this project will contribute positively to the nursing field especially the area of safe medication administration. Goal statement: As a nurse educator, my practicum experience goal is to contribute positively to the nursing field by using core competencies I have gained during my nurse educator program in helping nursing students understand the importance of safety in drug administration. Project Objectives At the end of the Practicum Experience, I will be able to: 1. Demonstrate a clear understanding of how to develop, assess, and execute a syllabus effectively for a course in a nursing program 2. Help nursing students achieve their goals and objective by ensuring that I cover the course requirements comprehensively by the end of the practicum. I will design a continuous evaluation system that will monitor the students’ progress, which will enable me address areas that students may be encountering difficulties. 3. Display a high level of understanding of the modern day technology that is used in nursing education, such as being able to use and manipulate simulators. Literature review Over time, there have been concerns in the nursing field on the various incidents of unsafe medicine administration. A study by Hughes and Blegen (2007) indicated that errors related to administration of medicine are becoming a principal concern among the causes of mortality and morbidity. In 2007, alone the death rate stood at 7,000. This concern led to the Institute of Medicine to come up with a report dubbed “Preventing Medication Errors” (Hughes & Blegen, 2007). The report emphasized on the need to practice safe medication administration. Years later, the problem still exists, and there although many measures have been put in place, there are still cases of unsafe drug administration in chemist, hospitals, and pharmacies (The National Patient Safety Agency, 2010). It is for this reason that I have gained a lot of interest in the field of pharmacology. The process of medicine administration is continuously becoming complex because of the continuous production and discovery of new drugs in the market. The number of prescribed medicine per patients is also playing a significant role in this trend (Garrett & Craig, 2008). Another important factor that is playing a key role in the medication field is the rapid change in medical technology and the several procedures and policies that have come up (National Patient Safety Agency, 2009a). Over the years, as I have progressed with my career I have come to discover that pharmacology, either as a course or part of a course for a nursing education is a particularly valuable element for any health care practitioner (Chester, 1977). A safe medication process and use are two essential principles that contribute towards a “safe use of pharmacological agents in perioperative clinical practice” (Hicks, Wanzer, & Goeckner, 2011). According to Hicks, Wanzer, and Goeckner (2011), proper use of medication involves the following steps obtaining, prescribing, recording, dispensing, administering, and finally monitoring. However, it is essential to stay aware of variations that occur in the medication-use process that originate from the demands that may arise uniquely to the perioperative environment. These variations are the main cause of many instances of medicine use bypassing safety requirements within the system. Methodology Pharmacology is a complex subject that requires a lot of time and concentration for one to grasp all the involved concepts. The current situation with poor drug administration is closely linked to the ignorance that most graduate nurses have towards pharmacology. Therefore, I am creating a simple operational plan that will make it easy for nursing students to adapt and understand the concepts involved in safe medication administration. The plan involves following the five rights of medication administration, which are the right time, person, dose, frequency, and route. The exercise will also involve the use of simulation medication carts and dummies to help with the project and create a realistic environment. The practicum will combine classroom theory and a series of practical sessions that will help the students internalize on what is being taught through a practical experience. A systematic methodology for the practicum experience My first step is to go over the plan with my preceptor and make the necessary adjustments according to her suggestions. The plan will involve the following steps: 1. Divide the teaching sessions into three main parts, where the first part will involve classroom sessions and students will mainly learn through theoretical work. The second part will involve carrying out the practical sessions using simulators and the knowledge they will have acquired from classroom sessions. The third part will be used for both the formative and summative evaluations. 2. Develop a systematic timetable that will clearly guide the students through the syllabus and give them an idea of what they will be leaning each work to help them prepare ahead. 3. Provide a time allowance at the end of each class to allow students air their views and ask questions where they did not understand during the lesson or where they are getting difficulties in comprehending what is required of them. Blumberg (2012) states that students learn better “from interactions with each other and the instructor”. 4. The next task is to familiarize the students with the simulators that we will be using in the practical sessions. Since nursing education is constantly evolving, nurse educators and students need to be familiar with the current changes in the nursing education. A good example of the evolving nursing education is the use of simulation in providing a practical setting and experience to the nursing student (Sanford, 2010). 5. The final task is to develop evaluation strategies both formative for the weekly evaluation of students continued performance and summative for the overall performance of the students at the end of the practicum The necessary human resources throughout the practicum To enable me carryout the practicum experience successfully there will be a few people involved in assisting me throughout the practicum. The main person being my Preceptor whose constant monitoring will be necessary in ensuring the success of the project. I will also need the cooperation and assistance of the nursing faculty at Butler Tech. Lastly will need the cooperation of the Licensed Practical Nurses at Butler Tech, as I will be teaching them on Safe Medication Administration. Criteria for evaluating the Practicum Project According to Lafferty (1997), the main aim of nurse education is to prepare and nurture students into competent practitioners with a target goal of protecting the public from incompetence while maintaining professional standards. The provision of simulation dummies in the practicum will play a major role in the evaluation of the nursing students. For comprehensive evidence on the progress of the practicum, the evaluation criteria will be two sided. First, my preceptor will be evaluating my progress, by consistently monitoring how I apply the classroom knowledge I have learned as a nurse educator towards teaching my students. The other evaluation criteria will be displayed through the students’ ability to use what I will have taught them and apply it successfully using the project simulators. The choice of using a preceptor in the evaluation process is to eliminate cases of bias. Determining success and outline of the Benchmarks for each element of evidence To determine the success for each element in the evaluation criteria, the results will be compared whether they coherently correspond to the project’s objectives. Successful results will be a reflection of achievement of the practicum goal and objectives at the end of the project. As a benchmark, my preceptor will refer to my ability to formulate and implement realistic and comprehensive lesson plans. Successful execution of my lesson plans and that will consist of theory and practical demonstration to the students will indicate a “pass”, failure to formulate or execute a relevant lesson plan will result to a “fail”. Each lesson plan, there will be a set of 2 to 3 objectives that students should achieve at the end of each lesson. The objectives will focus on the psychomotor domain in cases of practical, affective, and cognitive in cases of theory (Bloom, 1956). I will evaluate the students’ ability to understand and carry out the assigned tasks involving simulators for each lesson. Successful execution, without errors and minimal consultation will result to a pass, poor execution accompanied by numerous errors will result to a fail. Application of the evaluation methods and the resources required Individual assessment by the preceptor will be carried out prior to a lesson and after a lesson. The preceptor will mainly evaluate how I have structured my lesson plan and advice where necessary. Afterwards, my preceptor will review how I have executed the lesson and advice where necessary. For the class evaluation, I will, be evaluating the student on their practical and theory class sessions. For practical sessions, at the end of the class the students should be able to demonstrate and display their understanding by effectively carrying out assigned tasks using the simulators. For theoretical sessions, I will give the students two assessment questions that are directly linked to the lessons learning outcome. The main resources involved in the evaluation are my preceptor who I have already identified and the simulators, which are readily available at the site of my practicum. Formative evaluation strategy and time My formative evaluation strategies will incorporate the preceptor evaluations and the class assessment tests and tasks. According to Billings and Halstead (2010), once a program is complete, nothing much can be done to improve the outcome, therefore, the most appropriate time for evaluation is during the program. This is where formative evaluation comes into play because with formative evaluation, the facilitators and beneficiaries of the program are able to monitor the program throughout its progress. This will allow for identification and improvement of areas that may hinder the program from achieving its goals. To ensure that I am able to monitor the program throughout the class evaluations will be carried out weekly after each class and the preceptor evaluation will be once in a fortnight. Summative evaluation strategy, time, and place Summative evaluation will occur at the end of the program as it is necessary to sum all the projects outcomes at the end to verify whether the program objectives were achieved (Scriven, 1967). In her text, Keating (2010) insists that the program objectives need to be in congruence with the students’ objectives. The summative evaluation strategy involves a practical task involving prescribing administering drugs according a given criteria, but will be done using simulation carts, dummies, and replica medicine. The students will also do a classroom exam that will cover all the lessons cumulatively to determine their level of understanding and participation in the program. Timeline My practicum project will take fourteen weeks starting from May 6, 2013 to August 19, 2013. My timeline is based on weekly activities, and I have ensured that each activity is allocated enough time to ensure that each section is satisfactorily completed. Up to this level, everything has gone smoothly in accordance with the timeline, and I can foresee successful completion without any delays. A systematic flow of my timeline is as follows; week I and II involved coming up with the practicum project and discussing its relevance to my course as well as the society in general. Week III to V involved finding ways to initiate and set up the simulation carts that I will be using to teach the nursing students. From week, VI to week X, the actual simulation as required for effective teaching will be set up ready for the classes. After the set-up, I will use week XI to XIII to teach students how to work with and utilize the simulators. The final week XIV will be utilized to carry out the summative evaluation. Appendix Figure 1. Timeline for my practicum project Task Hours spent Month May June July August week I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV xv From 6 13 20 27 3 10 17 24 1 8 15 22 29 5 12 To 12 19 26 2 9 16 23 30 7 14 21 28 4 11 19 Project discussion discussion Finding ways to initiate and set up simulation carts Setting up the actual simulations Students will be utilizing and working with simulation Evaluations Legend Finished In Progress Scheduled References Billing , D. M., & Halstead, J. A. (2012). Teaching in nursing: A guide for faculty. St. Louis: Elsevier Saunders. Bloom, B. S., & Krathwohl, D. R. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals, by a committee of college and university examiners. Handbook I: Cognitive Domain. New York: Longmans. Blumberg, P. (2012). Developing Learner-Centered Teaching: A Practical Guide for Faculty. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Brack, G., Franklin , P., & Caldwell, J. (2013). Medicines Management for Nursing Practice: Pharmacology, Patient Safety, and Procedures. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chester, B. R. (1977). Legacies in ethics and medicine. (1st ed.). New York: Science History Publications. Garrett, S. K., & Craig, J. B. (2008). Medication Administration and the Complexity of Nursing Workflow. Retrieved from IIENET: http://www.iienet2.org/uploadedFiles/SHS_Community/MedicationAdministrationandtheComplexityofNursingWorkflow.pdf Hicks, R. W., Wanzer, L., & Goeckner, B. (2011). Perioperative pharmacology: a framework for perioperative medication safety. AORN Journal, 136-142. Hughes, R. G., & Blegen, M. A. (2007). Medication Administration Safety. In R. G. Hughes, Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses. (pp. 396-457). New York: NCBI. Keating , S. B. (2011). Curriculum development and evaluation in nursing education. New York: Springer Publishing Company. Lafferty , P. (1997). Balancing the curriculum: Promoting aesthetic knowledge in nursing. Nurse Education Today, 281-286. National Patient Safety Agency. (2004). Building a safer NHS for patients: Improving Mediaction safety. London: National Patient Safety Agency. National Patient Safety Agency. (2009a). Safety in Doses: Improving the use of medicine in the NHS. London: National Patient Safety Agency. National Prescribing Centre. (2004, June 15). Medicines management services collaborative. Retrieved from NPC: http://www.npc.co.uk/mms/mmsc/index.htm O'Shea, K. (2002). Staff Development Nursing Secrets. Oxford, UK: Elsevier Health Sciences. Sanford, P. G. (2010). Simulation in Nursing Education: A review of the Research. Fort Lauderdale, FL.: Nova Southeastern University. Scriven , M. (1967). The methodology of evaluation. In R. W. Tyler, R. M. Gagne, & M. Scriven, Perspectives of curriculum evaluation (pp. 39-83). Chicago: Rand McNally. The National Patient Safety Agency. (2010). Safety in doses: medication safety incidents in NHS. London: The National Patient Safety Agency. Read More