Introduction
One of the most crucial factors to consider while offering patients healthcare services is their safety. Nurses are responsible for adopting techniques and processes that advance patient safety within the healthcare industry. To guarantee that they contribute to promoting the safety and caliber of patient care given, nurses should regularly assess healthcare systems and procedures. Medication mistakes or errors are the greatest patient safety problem in the modern healthcare system. According to estimates, around 1.3 million hospital patients in the United States who require various types of care experience some sort of avoidable injury due to drug mistakes (Karam et al., 2021). Errors are unavoidable, as acknowledged by Martyn et al. (2019). Building a secure healthcare system is necessary to reduce medical errors, nevertheless. This article will look at the promotion of the safety of patients in healthcare, particularly in the medical administration, which depends heavily on efficient collaboration and communication among professionals of healthcare, with evidence-based strategies including multidisciplinary rounds and care coordination by nurses playing important roles in mitigating medical error and enhancing patient outcomes.
Safety Patient Risk Factor
Promoting the security of patient care depends heavily on effective and intentional communication. Healthcare providers must give patients high-quality, patient-centered, thorough, and secure care. However, this is impossible without efficient communication, making it difficult to collaborate across disciplines and increasing the risk of medication errors. Martyn et al. (2019) assert that nurses must guarantee that medications are given suitably and safely. A framework known as the “five rights of medicine administration” instructs nurses on the proper and effective administration of medications. The framework is founded on the idea that the proper medication must be given to the proper patient at the proper time using the proper route and dosage (Martyn et al., 2019). Regular and clear communication between numerous medical teams and professionals is necessary to implement this structure. Ineffective communication can lead to prescription, transcribing, verification, and medicine dispensing mistakes, severely impacting drug administration. Similarly, communication lapses during the various drug delivery procedures may lead to medication errors, which can sometimes be fatal.
According to, the most frequent type of Medical administration errors (MAEs) is wrong time errors, accounting for 58.7% of the MAEs. MAE from wrong-time errors can lead to toxicities and drug resistance (Wondmieneh et al., 2020). The study also indicated that MAEs were significantly associated with a lack of work experience, unavailability of guidelines for medical administration, and interruptions during medication administration. Interruptions during medication administration are associated with cognitive failure. Other factors, such as nurses’ sleep deprivation, exhaustion, and loss of concentration during the night shift, are also associated with MAEs. Another study by Rasool et al. (2020) demonstrated that prescribing five or more medications above the recommended WHO guidelines of 3 medications also increases the number of MAEs. The researchers point outs that polypharmacy increased the risk for MAEs by 66% from 17% in a healthcare setting. Due to the increase in MAEs, the rate of comorbidities also increases.
Solution Based on Evidence
Multidisciplinary teamwork is one of the often-utilized evidence-based strategies for reducing patient medication mistakes. This strategy, known as multidisciplinary rounds, has successfully promoted care teamwork and reduced prescription dispensing and administration errors. Multi-professional and Multidisciplinary rounds, according to Walton et al. (2019), are particularly useful in medical and surgical settings and can improve quality and safety, including fast, efficient, safe, effective, and patient-centered treatment. Close cooperation and communication among nurses, doctors, support services (including the management), and customers’ families are essential to providing high-quality, safe patient care. Walton et al. (2019) contend that most medication errors are caused by healthcare providers conducting their disorganized rounds, which presents numerous potential for communication breakdowns to result in medication errors.
Multidisciplinary rounds are also based on a patient-centered paradigm that prioritizes patient care objectives and treatment. Fewer medication errors, a focus on patient care issues, improved communication and teamwork, and clearly defined patient care plans and care goals are some of the key advantages of multi-professional rounds (Walton et al., 2019). Multidisciplinary rounds are handled differently by various healthcare organizations. Multidisciplinary teams often include people from various disciplines, such as respiratory, nursing, medical, pharmacy, and care management. Multidisciplinary rounds improve operational effectiveness and lower the expenses associated with pharmaceutical errors, particularly in intensive hospital care units.
Another solution to MAEs includes adopting and implementing a barcode system and Electric health records (EHRs). Barcode technology is used in the healthcare setting to confirm patients’ medication at the bedside. They ensure that the correct drug and dose are administered at the right time using the right route and that it is administered to the correct patient. In case of incorrect medication, the system notifies the nurse, correcting the error before administering the medication. According to a study by ,,,,,,,,,,,,, there was a decrease in MAEs from 0.26% to 0.20%, which equal a 20% decrease (Truitt et al., 2016). Implementing EHRs has been demonstrated to reduce MAEs by 24.5% at the bedside and by 23.5% when kept in a central position (Vaidotas et al., 2019). Reducing MAEs in healthcare also reduces the healthcare burden to the patient, their families, and the healthcare system.
Nurses’ Role in Coordinating Care
It has become increasingly important to shift from uncoordinated, discontinued, and fragmented treatment care to an increasingly integrated healthcare system as patients’ healthcare requirements and demands become more complex. Care coordination, according to Karam et al. (2021), is a procedure that includes two or more individuals and necessitates the “intentional arrangement” of care activities in order to give adequate healthcare services (Karam, p. 2, 2021). Coordinating patient care is a crucial responsibility for nurses performing distinct dependent and interdependent roles. Nurses’ independence or autonomy permits them to decide the best care to give their patients based on their professional knowledge, experiences, and personal judgment. Nevertheless, to deliver patient-centered and evidence-based treatment, nurses must work with other healthcare teams and professionals (Karam et al., 2021). Because of these responsibilities, nurses liaise with patients and other medical specialists to guarantee that patients receive comprehensive, pertinent, and integrated care. Lastly, the nurse has a crucial role in reducing MAEs. They can help reduce MAEs by adhering to the five rights of medication administration, reporting medical errors, and appropriate documentation.
Partnership with Stakeholders
Some important parties that nurses would cooperate with to drive safety improvements in drug administration include board members and nursing leaders like unit managers and chief nursing. For example, nurse leaders speak on behalf of the nursing staff at the board and budget reviews. The boards of directors of nursing organizations might also be alerted about the problems faced by their personnel as well as suggested remedies (Hayes, 2017). Hence, nurse leaders should take advantage of these occasions to improve management’s comprehension of pharmaceutical errors and their detrimental effects, such as extended patient injuries, hospital stays, and even death. Even if implementing multidisciplinary circle rounds does not require economic support, securing the board of directors’ consent is crucial before standardizing the organization’s multidisciplinary round strategy.
Conclusion
One of the most crucial expressions is “human is to error,” which acknowledges that even as humans continue to achieve the unthinkable, humans still have some minor flaws. The healthcare sector is included in the various fields of life to which the same adage applies. However, mistakes in some fields can have far worse effects than mistakes in others, with death among the most catastrophic outcomes in the health sector. Studies and publications from major health organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO) show that medical errors are the main factor in one out of every ten scenario cases of death and disability worldwide (Karam et al., 2021). Due to the seriousness of medical errors (ME), it is necessary to identify and comprehend the elements that endanger patient safety and lower the standard of care. This will allow for the development of effective solutions to put an end to MEs. Medication mistakes continue to be a serious issue in healthcare that jeopardizes patient safety and treatment quality. It is vital to create methods or solutions to lower the expenses associated with drug errors, as they occur more frequently each year. This article has demonstrated that multidisciplinary rounds are among the best ways to improve the drug administration process and reduce pharmaceutical errors. Healthcare professionals can collaborate and communicate during multidisciplinary rounds to lessen the risk of drug errors and provide safe, patient-specific treatment.
References
Hayes, K. (July 24, 2017). Medication Errors Rise, with 1.3M People Injured Yearly. American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). https://www.aarp.org/health/drugs-supplements/info-2017/medication-errors-rise-fd.html
Karam, M, Chouinard, M., Poitras, M., Couturier, Y., Vedel, I., Grgurevic, N., & Hudon, C. (2021). Nursing care coordination for patients with complex needs in primary healthcare: International Journal of Integrated Care, 21(1), 1-21. http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/ijic.5518.
Martyn, J., Paliadelis, P., & Perry, C. (2019). The safe administration of medication: Nursing behaviors beyond the five rights. Nurse Education in Practice, 37: 109-114. DOI: 10.1016/j.nepr.2019.05.006.
Rasool, M et al. (2020). Risk Factors Associated With Medication Errors Among Patients Suffering From Chronic Disorders. Frontiers in Public Health. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.531038
Truitt, E., Thompson, R., Blazey-Martin, D., Nisai, D., & Salem, D. (2016). Effect of Implementing Barcode Technology and an Electronic Medication Administration Record on Adverse Drug Events. Hospital Pharmacy, 51(6), 474–483. https://doi.org/10.1310/hpj5106-474
Vaidotas, M., Yokota, P. K. O., Negrini, N. M. M., Leiderman, D. B. D., Souza, V. P. de, Santos, O. F. P. dos, & Wolosker, N. (2019). Medication errors in emergency departments: Is electronic medical record an effective barrier? Einstein (São Paulo), 17(4). https://doi.org/10.31744/einstein_journal/2019gs4282
Walton, V., Hogden, A., Long, C., Johnson, J., & Greenfield, D. (2019). How do interprofessional healthcare teams perceive the benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary ward rounds? Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, 12:1023-1032. https://doi.org/10.2147%2FJMDH.S226330.
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