NHS-FPX4000 Applying Research Skills
Paper Details
School: Capella University
Subject: Nursing
Topic: Applying Research Skills
Course: NHS-FPX4000
Referencing: APA
Pages: 6
Introduction
The increase in medication errors has raised serious concerns among healthcare stakeholders due to the negative implication it has on the healthcare delivery system. One of the fundamental objectives in prescribing medications to the patient is to increase their overall health outcomes and maintain individual physiological functioning that was offset by an illness. Patient safety is therefore, the basis for administering medication. Ensuring that the right patient get the right medication at the right time and in the correct manner is an important obligation of healthcare providers before prescribing any medicine.
As a health provider, it is my obligation to ensure that patients attain high quality care including being pre-disposed to the right medication. The prevalence of medication errors in health care entities has presented a life threatening condition which mandates healthcare providers to take caution before prescribing medication. The impact of medication errors is evident in the entire health care delivery system as it contributes to increase fatality and morbidity. Medication errors have been shown to contribute to negative health among the patients and may lead to permanent disability (Donaldson et al., 2017).
The occurrence of different instances of medication errors in my unit highlighted the overarching need to adopt new approaches that would enable health care providers deliver the correct medication to the right people and in the appropriate manner. This instance enabled me to appreciate the importance of evidence based practice during patient medication and ensuring that due diligence is adhered to during administering medications to patients. The interests of this paper in managing medication errors is therefore, attributed to the desire to reduce negative health implication arising from medication errors in different scenarios.
Identifying academic peer-reviewed articles
The process of searching for articles included assessing credible databases for peer reviewed journal articles related to the topic of medication errors. Using Capella University Library databases, I assessed ProQuest central and PubMed databases for articles related to the topic of interest. The major key words were medication errors, managing medication errors, and addressing medication errors. This process led to attaining 21 articles related to the topic of interest. By the use of advanced search option, I limited the search to peer reviewed journals and scholarly articles only. This process led to attaining 75 articles which were further refined by the use of the inclusion criteria for articles only published in English and in the last 6 years. All other articles that were published in other languages and older than 6 years were excluded from the study. A further refinement incorporated the field of medicine and nursing. The end result was a total of 6 article, four of which were incorporated in the annotated bibliography.
NHS-FPX4000 Applying Research Skills
Credibility and relevance of information sources
One of the determinants of credible information is its publication date (Sbaffi & Rowley, 2017). All the articles included in the search were published in the last six years and older articles were excluded. The credibility of the authors is also well documented considering that all had advanced experience in medicine and nursing. To ensure that the information attained could also be relied upon, it was important to ensure that there was inclusion of acceptable opinions and facts related to medication errors. Therefore, the article included in the bibliography contain credible information related to the topic of study.
Naples, J. G., Hanlon, J. T., Schmader, K. E., & Semla, T. P. (2016). Recent literature on medication errors and adverse drug events in older adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 64(2), 401-408.
This article summarises the recent literature related to medication errors and adverse drug events among the older adults. The authors highlight that adverse effects attributed to medication errors especially among the older patient lead to ill health and exacerbation. Accordingly, the article implicates use of multiple medication to medication errors and advanced drug events. The authors cite that it is imperative to improve on inappropriate prescribing by eliminating medications through patient ownership of end results and documenting potentially unnecessary prescribing. The article concludes that to prevent medication errors, healthcare providers should follow the standard operational procedure before medication administration to avoid any negative implication or adverse drug event. This article is evidence based and provides up to data information that can be exploited to reduce cases of medication errors.
Alharbi, W., Cleland, J., & Morrison, Z. (2019). Addressing medication errors in an adult oncology department in Saudi Arabia: A qualitative study. Saudi pharmaceutical journal, 27(5), 650-654.
The purpose of this article was to identify and recommend solutions to minimise medication errors in an adult oncology department in Saudi Arabia by healthcare professionals. The authors adopted a qualitative study in an oncology department in the study area through adopting a stratified purposive sampling. The authors indicate that medication errors present health challenges and may contribute to serious consequences for patients and healthcare organisation. However, the authors illustrate that half of the medication errors experienced in a healthcare setting can be prevented by implementing evidence-based strategies. The outcome indicated that staff education, improving organisational support and communication are vital undertakings in reducing medication errors in the oncology department. The authors therefore, concluded that adoption of multiple strategies is an invaluable asset in improving safety of medication process. In this aspect, the availability of supportive leadership should be prioritised due to its role in determining the effectiveness and efficiency of communication and staff education, approaches that are fundamental in reducing medication errors. The inclusion of this article was based on its orientation towards healthcare administration in providing an optimal internal working environment that is critical for managing medication errors.
Ferrah, N., Lovell, J. J., & Ibrahim, J. E. (2017). Systematic review of the prevalence of medication errors resulting in hospitalization and death of nursing home residents. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 65(2), 433-442.
The purpose of the systematic review was to assess the prevalence of medication errors leading to hospitalization and death and the factors associated with the effective management of the condition. According to the researchers, medication errors culminate in preventable harm to residents of a nursing home therefore, causing a significant financial burden. This implies that it is fundamental to adopt different approaches in manage medication errors to improve patient safety and quality of care. The studies included in the systematic review were all peer reviewed most of which were cross-sectional, cohort studies and case time series. The researchers also highlighted the steps taken to control potential bias that would affect quality of the research. The researchers concluded that health care providers should focus on delivery of patient-centred medication to prevent cases of medication errors. However, the role played by institutional factors is also significant in safe provision of medication. Secondly, health care providers should emphasized on interpersonal and intrapersonal communication such as changes of drugs and shift changes by healthcare profession. The focus on information technology can also enable reduce cases of medication errors by harmonizing databases for medication administration and storing patient information. The choice of this article was based on its ability to capture different approaches effective for managing medication errors such as the use of current technologies. The information provided in this article is also eye-opening and may provide critical guidance for health administrator to optimise on healthcare resources in reducing medication error in the future.
Tong, E. Y., Roman, C. P., Mitra, B., Yip, G. S., Gibbs, H., Newnham, H. H., … & Dooley, M. J. (2017). Reducing medication errors in hospital discharge summaries: a randomised controlled trial. Medical Journal of Australia, 206(1), 36-39.
The objective of this study is to evaluate approaches taken by a healthcare provider to reduce medication errors. The article focuses on the role played by pharmacists during completion of medication management plan in the medical discharge summary. Adoption of cluster-randomised controlled investigation of medical management plan was an effective approach in collecting data related to the topic of interest. The healthcare facility where data was collected had an annual occurrence of 60,000 patients therefore, increasing the reliability of collected data. According to the researchers, pharmacists can reduce the rate of medication errors by accurately completing medication management plans in the discharge summary. The rationale for including this article was due to its focus on reducing medication errors at the point of discharge as this is an important phase in identifying loopholes leading to medication errors.
Learning from research
This process of research increased my insight related to evidence-based approaches in managing medication errors. I understood the role played by healthcare organisations in providing optimum environment whereby health care provider can communicate freely to manage cases of medication errors. The process of creating annotated bibliography also provided repository of evidence based materials focusing on managing medication errors. This implies that I will attain resources and materials highlighting the best possible approaches of managing medication errors.
References
Alharbi, W., Cleland, J., & Morrison, Z. (2019). Addressing medication errors in an adult oncology department in Saudi Arabia: A qualitative study. Saudi pharmaceutical journal, 27(5), 650-654.
Donaldson, L. J., Kelley, E. T., Dhingra-Kumar, N., Kieny, M. P., & Sheikh, A. (2017). Medication without harm: who’s third global patient safety challenge. The Lancet, 389(10080), 1680-1681.
Ferrah, N., Lovell, J. J., & Ibrahim, J. E. (2017). Systematic review of the prevalence of medication errors resulting in hospitalization and death of nursing home residents. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 65(2), 433-442.
Naples, J. G., Hanlon, J. T., Schmader, K. E., & Semla, T. P. (2016). Recent literature on medication errors and adverse drug events in older adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 64(2), 401-408.
Sbaffi, L., & Rowley, J. (2017). Trust and credibility in web-based health information: a review and agenda for future research. Journal of medical Internet research, 19(6), e218.
Tong, E. Y., Roman, C. P., Mitra, B., Yip, G. S., Gibbs, H., Newnham, H. H., … & Dooley, M. J. (2017). Reducing medication errors in hospital discharge summaries: a randomised controlled trial. Medical Journal of Australia, 206(1), 36-39.
