Safe medication administration - Research Paper Example

61). Together, these safety measures reduce risk of medication errors, yet, these do not fully address the complexity of human factor in the error. Although addressing medication errors through modern clinical technologies are appropriate parameters in patient safety, priority must be centered on correcting internal culture in clinical practice that cradles medication errors into a communicating environment that promotes early correction of errors through voluntary reporting of underlying error sources.

Concept Similarities The act of committing any form of mistakes in clinical set-up generates much concern as single mistake can possibly lead to worse conditions and death. As noted by Vogelsmeier, Scott-Cawiezell, and Zellmer (2007, p. 8), a number of factors hinder to safe medication execution, from “prescribing, documenting, dispensing, administering, and monitoring.” In all functional categories, poor communication patterns commonly appeared in every level. Even in double-checking medication before administration, communication problems may still occur.

Collaborative partnership against error is deferred as junior nurses shies from questioning senior nurses on faulty medication strategies, compounded when two colleagues deviate to personal topics during medication checking and when automatic nursing processes reject further analysis of rechecking drug concepts (Armitage, 2007). As Brous (2008) agreed, communication needs improvement in actual practice, and added that nursing knowledge and skill competencies, as well as staffing issues, should be enhanced in an organizational environment that nurtures culture of safety against errors.

Communication, among other stressors, drive nurses to enhanced vulnerability, but this is only a portion of man’s naturally limiting capabilities. Distinctions Revealed A number of potential solutions have been introduced that promises to minimally lessen, if not eliminate, human errors in professionally distributing pharmacological agents. On a traditional way, Dennison (2007) promoted technologically-enhanced strategy of educational training in safe medications, measured through practical improvements in performing “smart” pumps in medication infusion.

As administration phase occupies majority of medication errors, technological creations have been introduced to intercept functional mistakes. For DeYoung, Vanderkool, and Barletta (2009, p. 1111), adverse pharmacological events can be reduced by “bar-code-assisted medication administration (BCMA),” utilized specifically at the bedside to verify and remind nurses of former medication activities and necessary drug care. Errors are, thereby, prevented as nurses are made aware of correct medication procedures for individual patients prior to actual administration.

On a different level, supportive infusion pumps system benefits nurses in three ways; reduces worries on dosage miscalculations, boosts confidence in accurately delivering infusion agents, and lightens medication workload (Rosenkoetter, et al., 2008). Functions in efficiently distributing medications are performed, and all nurses have to do is monitor it for possible malfunction. In another technological system, “