The death rate in the United States is between 7,000 and 9,000. Many thousands of patients have been affected by medication errors that had negative consequences (Tariq et al.,2020). Each year, medication errors increase to $40 billion in healthcare costs for each 7 million patients. The issue must be addressed to improve patient satisfaction, nursing competencies, and collaboration between the healthcare system and pharmacies and create a top-notch medical facility. NURS FPX 4000 Assessment 4 will examine pharmaceutical errors and strategies to reduce these while considering their efficacy and ethical implications to give a solution and suggest an action plan.

The assessment begins by describing the causes of the problem and its contributing factors, as well as the problems and their consequences. It then goes on to describe the different types of medication mistakes, the solutions implemented by the health system, a review of those solutions, and finally, the solution itself, with its ethical implications. NURS FPX 4000 Assessment 4: Analyzing Current Health Care Issues

The Medication Errors Problem/Issue

Medication mistakes can be fatal or innocuous. However, they lower the standard and increase tensions among doctors, pharmacists, and medical transcriptionists. It also undermines the confidence of patients in the medical system.

The problem comprises packaging mistakes, prescription errors, dispensing errors, medication administration, and miscommunication. Packaging mistakes can be of two types (Faraj et al., 2010). First, there is the issue of inaccurate information or bad printing. The incorrect information can be in the form of inaccurate doses, similar names, or chemical composition. This problem can only be solved if the nurses notice and report side effects. The dispensing machines can also detect any minor flaws in the packaging. Packing mistakes can cause medications to be significantly different. This could pose a risk to patients and increase health problems. The probability of errors is average (Faraj Al-Ahmadi and others, 2020).

NURS 4000 Assessment 4

Second, the medication’s packaging, color, and naming sequence are frequently and unexpectedly changed. Drug mishaps were triggered by a labeling change (Faraj et al., 2010). The nurses need clarification due to the lack of information between pharmacists about the packaging change. Average mistakes are likely to occur. According to Shrestha and Prajapati (2019), between 6% and 77.7% of prescriptions must be filled correctly. These errors are likely due to the identical names of pharmaceuticals and medicines, insufficient and inaccurate patient and drug information, and automated physician orders. They are also connected to lapses and calculation errors (CPOE). The disparity between prescriptions and medications is linked to medicine and dispensing errors (Shrestha & Prajapati, 2018).

NURS FPX 4000 Assignment 4:

Most standard drug administration errors include incorrect timing, wrong dose and omissions, incorrect administration rates, incorrect preparation, and providing medication due to a misdistribution error without checking with and contacting the pharmacist distribution unit. Nurses are primarily responsible for errors, with a rate ranging from 8% to 25 percent (Chua et al., 2017). Drug administration issues can be caused by individual mistakes or interference with the process. These mistakes are more common due to increased patient volume and turnover. A medication error is more likely to occur when communication is ineffective because remedial and preventative measures are not taken (Chua et al., 2017). It increases the distance between prescriptions, dispensing, and drug administration, which leads to conflict and blame culture. Drugs can have harmful effects. Poor communication can be characterized by a lack of acknowledgment, insufficient suggestions, inaccurate information, and delayed responses (Chua et al., 2017).

An Analysis of Medication Errors

Medication errors can be defined as any incident that could endanger a patient or cause other harmful effects. Adverse effects are unanticipated and unwanted medication reactions that can be harmful. Adverse medication events are injuries caused by incorrect dosage, administration, or other mistakes. An injury can lead to illness or death.

My duty as a nurse is to minimize pharmaceutical errors since they can compromise patient safety. As medical treatment is needed to correct the problem, these mistakes increase hospital costs. This increases readmission rates and hospital stays. These mistakes increase the workload of nurses as the ratio of caregivers decreases. Legal action or disciplinary punishment may be imposed for errors. The patient will have less trust in the healthcare system, which may indicate that the hospital needs to provide better services (Zarea et al., 2018).

Effects on Patients, Nurses, and Other Health Care Professionals

Misjudgments in medication can have adverse effects on patients. The negative effects of misjudgments extend beyond the physical to include psychological issues, such as stress, anxiety, and depression. Patients hospitalized for additional illnesses or infections may also experience these symptoms (Zarea et al., 2018). After a lousy medication event, patients may feel a lack of motivation for therapy. This suggests that mistakes in drug use can lead to undesirable side effects, and those undesirable side effects may cause psychological problems.

NURS FPX 4000 Assessment 4

Unfavorable outcomes increase the financial burden of patients, as they require more hospitalizations and expensive treatments to reverse. Other adverse effects can cause long-term medical problems (Dillon et al., 2018). A pharmacy technician without formal education or experience made several typographical errors that caused a woman admitted to a Midwestern State to die. These mistakes included incorrect patient records and spelling errors (Dillon et al., 2018).

The medication problem can lead to poor job satisfaction because more errors are associated with unprofessional behavior. A widespread blame culture characterizes the medical industry. This includes the pharmacy, dispensing unit, nurses, doctors, and other healthcare professionals. Nurses are anxious and sad when they encounter conflict because of the unsupportive environment in which they work. Conflicts can arise if, for example, a patient is killed by a high dose. It takes time to determine the root cause of a problem due to so many units. Nurses are often the ones who take the brunt of the blame because they are at the bottom. This can lead to dread, mental illness, and decreased job satisfaction (Dionisi et al., 2021).

Possible Solutions for Medication Errors In NURS FPX 4000 Assessment 4

The first step is to establish a direct line of communication between nurses, doctors, and pharmacists to reduce the risk of medication errors, incorrect dose calculations, distribution mistakes, and delayed medication administration. It is possible to achieve this by including medication errors in the EHR and paperwork and verifying data. The second method, which ensures that all is valid before moving on to the next phase, is to use checklists for each unit (Hughes & Blegen, 2018). Pharmacists must verify all medications’ names, dosages, manufacturers, and clinical records. Introduce a barcode-based system for medicines to eliminate transcription and typing errors (Hughes & Blegen, 2018). Thirdly, everyone should be informed on how to use acronyms properly. It is better to avoid abbreviations in order to eliminate medical errors. The drawbacks of these solutions include the need for a brand-new system, financial concerns, and a possible over-reliance on technology. (Hughes & Blegen 2018).

NURS FPX Assessment 4: Analyzing Current Health Care Issues

It is essential to implement a communication procedure with the error-reporting system so that feedback on specific medications or patients can be given quickly (Tariq et al.,2020). A med tech who uses audio labels and separate portions for medication will also make fewer mistakes regarding doses. Informing nurses and doctors of changes in packaging can help prevent misunderstandings and delays when administering medicine. Tabards with different indicators can help reduce external interference in delivery (Tariq et al.,2020). There are fewer interferences and, therefore, fewer errors. Nurses must check both the EHR and the patient evaluations to ensure the proper medication is given to patients. Another crucial component is training and educating stakeholders to promote multidisciplinary partnerships. The confidentiality of personal data and unintentional mistakes lead to treatment (Tariq and al.,2020).

Not putting solutions into action and ignoring the problem can have several negative consequences, including increased risks for patients, additional health concerns, higher costs in health care, a rise in readmissions, psychological effects on patients and staff alike, legal, expert, and moral repercussions, conflict and comparatively low effectiveness. Combining the various methods into one system is best, as different solutions are available for different faults. Tabards and electronic health records monitor medication administration, delivery, and interaction. Devices, labels, voice tags, and other devices for dosage calculation, as well as interconnected reporting and communication applications, can be used to prevent errors.

NURS FPX Assessment 4: Ethical Principles

The ethical concerns about medication errors can be grouped into four moral norms: the right of self-determination, benevolence, respect for human dignity and transparency, and the right to know and veracity (Varkey, 2021). The concepts of self-assurance and independence acknowledge the patient’s rights. Even if a medical mistake has been made, it is the moral duty of healthcare providers to inform their patients about their agreement for ongoing treatment. (Varkey, 2021).

In order to maintain the standards of efficacy and nonmaleficence, medical service providers must act in their patient’s best interest and without malice. Medical care providers are often faced with ethical dilemmas when balancing the patient’s potential risks against the benefits that the patient will receive in the long run (Vaismoradi et al., 2021). Even though mistakes can be of varying severity, they always have adverse effects on both the patient and the person that made the mistake. The medical care providers must take all precautions necessary to avoid further harm due to an error. (Vaismoradi, et. al., 2021).

Medical care providers must provide the patient with all the information they need for informed, independent decisions. The Patient’s Rights Declaration demands that a medical mistake be fully disclosed (Vaismoradi et al., 2021). Medical professionals must provide accurate and impartial information to patients in a manner that is easy to understand. Open communication about medical errors can promote trust. (Vaismoradi et al., 2021). Accurate information about medical errors promotes trust. When truth-telling over fear-based culture is chosen, drug administration errors can be quickly resolved, adverse effects reduced, workplace conflicts eliminated, patient well-being promoted, and underlying issues discovered. The system has incorporated all the approaches from the previous part (Vaismoradi et al., 2021).