Medication Errors Research Paper

Medication Errors: Causes and Problems Reporting
Student Name
Grand Valley State University

Medication Errors: Causes and Problems Reporting
In the early morning hours of a 12-hour night shift, a nurse gives the patient an incorrect medication. The aspirin given was ordered for the patient in the next room. Medication errors are common in the hospital setting and especially by a nurse who is fatigued from working a 12-hour shift. In the situation described, should the nurse report the error or assume that the incident is not worth reporting since it was only aspirin?
Surprisingly, according to Covell and Ritchie (2009) most medication errors are simply overlooked. “Nurses estimate that only
There are several steps in this process and unfortunately when one step is altered, a medication error can occur. Preventing errors has been and continues to be an important aspect of nursing. I believe that in order to provide patients with the best possible care it is important for nurses to understand the common reported causes of medication errors, problems in reporting errors, and their role in medication prevention and reporting. Throughout this paper I will discuss the medication error issues described above and their importance and impact on the nursing profession. Topics discussed in this paper include the common causes of medication errors, perceived problems with reporting medication errors, and the importance of medication errors to the profession of
A common external cause of medication errors is miscommunication. Miscommunication can occur in several different ways, but it often involves miscommunication from the initial prescription by physicians. Brady, Malone, and Fleming (2009) found that, “ineffective written and verbal communication in relation to prescriptions contribute to medication errors, particularly between nurses and physicians” (p. 692). Quite often, handwriting is not legible when prescriptions are written which results in medication errors. Since many drugs look and sound similar, it is easy for nurses to confuse handwriting. An example involves the medications, Vioxx, Ziox, and Zyvox. These medications sound very similar; however, they are used for very different treatments. Confusion by the nurse in writing a verbal order or in reading the order related to one of these three medications could result in immense consequences. In a survey of 983 registered nurses, Brady et al. (2009) likewise concluded that poor handwriting ranks among the top three causes of medication