DNP- LEADERSHIP FOR ADVANCED NURSING PRACTICE

Case Report: Impact of Medication Administration Errors on 3-4-Year-Old Leukaemia Patients

Case Report: What Does the Research Say?

DNP-830-0502: Data Analysis

DNP- Data Analysis

Introduction

A medication error can be defined as a failure incurred in the process of treatment which has the capacity of creating harm or harms the patient. Medication errors can also occur in the process of selecting the type of medicine to be consumed as well as the dosage which need to be administered (Manias et al., 2019). When providing the prescription in terms of writing, when tracking the therapy or even when finding out the formula that can be used in finding the volume to be administered all can result to medication errors. Although medication errors remain one of the most frequent types of medical errors experienced by patients, the case of handling children becomes more severe. This is majorly advocated by the fact that the children do not receive medical prescription directly from the care givers, this takes place through a number of people (World Health Organization, 2016). This is a contributing factor explaining the reason as to why medical errors in children with leukemia are more frequent. Occasionally, medication errors might not have any harm both to patients and the nurses, however it might be very devastating. The increasing rare of medical errors in children with leukemia has turned out being a dilemma to the management as they are not in a better position of arriving at the right solutions to take.

Synthesize of the Review

Reports have revealed that there exists a very high rate of pediatric mediation errors. The rationale behind this has been the variations in the study design which has been followed. Among the medication errors, dosing errors remain the most dominant ones when dealing with children with leukemia. There exists a number of reasons as to why children tend to be at a greater risk of medication errors as compared to other populations. These reasons include: Most of the drug doses are calculated based on the age that various patients have, their body surface as well as the surface area of the body. The second reason as to why this occurs is lack of enough information pertaining the dose which the children are administered to. The third reason is because of the rapid and dynamic changes in terms of the children weight and the recalculation of the proper doses which are need. Another reason is the presence of the internal reservations towards the medication errors which have been occurring.

Medication errors occurs in different stages. There are four major steps which incorporates the errors with medication in children. The first stage is the prescribing stage, the second stage is transcribing, third is the dispensing stage while the final stage is the administration stage. Another important thing to be understood is understanding the fact that errors can occur at even stage. Besides, any person within the institution can result to any errors amid the medication process. Therefore, all of the management staff need to take caution and show an effort in minimizing medication errors.

Description of Case/Conditions/Situations

Most countries are running to a number of difficulties in trying to address the whole issue of medication errors. There are lots of millions of moneys that countries are spending with the efforts of addressing the challenges. It is evident that most of the medication errors go unnoticed. However, there is a small portion of medical practitioners who take the responsibility of ensuring that they address all the arising issues. Most of the hospital management are cowards of addressing medication errors because they might lose the reputation of the healthcare center (World Health Organization, 2016). The immune of the children might be affected greatly.

Proposed Solutions Towards the Situation

Adherence to the Five-Medication Administration

Nurses should ensure that they adhere to the institutional policies and medication transcription that need to be followed in a given organization. Although it is not possible for one to adequately transcribe the medication prescribe, it is important to ensure that the right medication has been prescribed and to the correct patient, using the right means and the right routes. This is what is enshrined in the five rights.

Following of the Proper Medication as well as Reconciliation Procedures

There is need for every organization to have a mechanism in place which will ensure that medication reconciliation when there is need to transfer children patients from one institution to another. In such a case, each medication that was previously administered need to be known and understood. This will help in ensuring that the next step taken towards curing the children is always the right (Paixão, 2018). In cases where the information available is not enough, there is need to seek an additional information that can give a hint on what can be followed. There are numerous vendors have a number of reconciliation information which can help in addressing the challenges that can arise as a result of information scarcity.

Allow a Physician or other Nurses to go through the Instructions

This refers to process by which nurses and other care givers read the prescription that have been offered to the patients. The purpose of this is ensuring that the prescription which has been given is the right one and is free of errors. It is more of a confirming process than giving new directions.

Utilization of Name Alerts

Some of the organizations have been making use of name alerts in getting rid of any potential errors which might arise (World Health Organization, 2016). Certain names used might bring in a lot of confusions, thus, making use of name alerts played an essential in ensuring that such errors are minimal. Posting name alerts in front of the MAR papers will help in getting rid of petty confusions which might arise from names which look alike.

Documentation of Everything

Documentation includes the proper labelling and writing of the instructions which might be needed when administering any type of drug. With proper labelling, errors will be highly minimal. “For example, a nurse forgetting to document an as needed medication can result in another dosage being administered by another nurse since no documentation denoting previous administration exists. Reading the prescription label and expiration date of the medication is also another best practice.” (Rowcliffe, 2018)

Conclusion

Medication errors among children is common as compared to other age brackets. This is because administration depends on the age when arriving at the right dosage. Other reasons as to why the children are more prone to medication errors is due to dynamic changes of the young children since their growth is rapid. some of the measures that can be taken in ensuring that the medication errors have been regulated include adherence to the five medication administration, following of the proper medication as well as reconciliation procedures, allow a physician or other nurses to go through the instructions, utilization of name alerts and documentation of everything.

References