Assignment: Medication Errors

You will write paper on the below parts III and IV. Be sure to see reference paper for parts I and II.

III. Performance Improvement Initiative

A. Propose an initiative that will address this problem within the department of your chosen healthcare organization. What specific relevant quality standard will this quality initiative address?

B. Discuss the data determinants of success, as related to this initiative. In other words, what type of data will be indicative of a quality outcome?

IV. Implementation of the Plan in the Organization

A. What interdepartmental communication channels will be used for plan implementation?

B. What manner of data interpretation will be used to communicate the findings within the organization?

C. If this initiative was implemented, what do you believe would be the hypothetical effect(s) on patient care outcomes? How will health information systems support those improvements in patient care?

D. What do you think the hypothetical effect of the quality or performance initiative will be on the culture of safety within the organization?

Guidelines for Submission: Submit assignment as a Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. Two pages long and the reference page

Milestone 1

Medication Errors.docx

Running Head: PATIENT MEDICATION ERRORS

PATIENT MEDICATION ERRORS

Patient Medication Errors

Milestone 1

Introduction

In any medical facility, the medication of patients is among the most important things. Making sure that patients get the right medication is essential as wrong medication can have very adverse long-term effects on the patients’ health. However, there are times when the errors occur during the process of administering medication to the patients. When providing health care services to the patients, their safety should be a top priority for any health care facility management team. However, in the past, there have been some errors which have been occurring during the provision of the healthcare services.

Organizational Problem

Medication Errors and the Costs

In the United States and other countries, medication errors are a very big concern. It is a challenge facing a lot of medical facilities all over the world. Dealing with it is very important as it helps to save the patients as well as reducing the cost coming up due to the errors committed during the process of administering medication.

Barker, Flynn, Pepper, Bates & Mikeal, (2002), State that medication errors are common. Statistics show that the rate in hospitals and other skilled nursing facilities, the rate is almost 20%. This is way above the minimum harmful rate of about 7%.

Medication errors have been a major challenge all over the world. Many stakeholders in the healthcare sector have been collaborating to come up with means of reducing the risks of these errors during the provision of medical services to the patients. It is important to note that the cost of these errors is exceptionally high. According to Donaldson, Kelley, Dhingra-Kumar, Kieny, & Sheikh (2017), the cost of medication errors is over $40 billion. According to the same article, an estimated $3.5 billion is lost every year, which is aimed at treating hospitalized patients.

To continue improving the patients’ safety, there is the need to make sure that all stakeholders including the regulatory bodies are involved to minimize the cases of avoidable harm to the patients. Addressing the challenges is at the heart of the health ministers. Reducing the medication errors will not only be important in saving cost but also in reducing the cases of harm and deaths caused by the errors.

Organizational Challenges

Among the major organizational challenges being faced by medical facilities due to medication errors include budgeting. With the soaring global costs due to these errors, budgeting is a big challenge. Globally, the cost of these errors is about $42 billion according to Donaldson et al. (2017). Also, there are increased interdepartmental conflicts as the medication errors, and wrong decision-making by a single department in the health facility affects all other departments. Communication also becomes a very big challenge.

Evidence-Based Support

Data Supporting the Existence of the Problem

There is a lot of data suggesting the existence of the patient medication errors. For example, the data of the cost incurred by the stakeholders in the healthcare facilities worldwide. As Donaldson (2017) puts it, the medication errors cost organizations over 42 billion dollars every single year. Also, according to Wahr & Merry (2017), in the operating room, the risk of errors in medication is estimated to be 1 in every 20 people. Additionally, according to Leape and associates, there is about 56 percent of errors caused by prescription and 44 percent as a result of administration.

Addressing the Problem in the Past

Numerous stakeholders have come together to try solving the issue. World Health Organization formed partnerships with other stakeholders in the healthcare sector including the World Alliance for Patient Safety, to help reduce the errors. These have been working on coming up with global patient challenges. Also, they aim at making sure that the patients get clean and quality health care, which is safer. In collaboration with health ministers worldwide, these individuals work towards ensuring that the patients can get the best quality healthcare while maintaining high levels of patient safety (Donaldson, Kelley, Dhingra-Kumar, Kieny, & Sheikh, 2017).

Relevant Accreditation Standards, Safety Standards, Compliance Standards, and Quality Initiatives

The safety of patients is very important, and numerous standards have been put in place to ensure that the safety is promoted. For example, Failure Mode, Effect, and Criticality Analysis also referred to as FMECA, is a standard used to enhance patients’ safety (Montesi & Lechi, 2009). Regulations set by organizations such as Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are important and should be complied with during the administration of any medication to patients.

References

Barker, K. N., Flynn, E. A., Pepper, G. A., Bates, D. W., & Mikeal, R. L. (2002). Medication errors observed in 36 healthcare facilities. Archives of internal medicine, 162(16), 1897-1903.

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.

Montesi, G., & Lechi, A. (2009). Prevention of medication errors: detection and audit. British journal of clinical pharmacology, 67(6), 651-655.

Wahr, J. A., & Merry, A. F. (2017). Medication Errors in the Perioperative Setting. Current Anesthesiology Reports, 7(3), 320-329.