The Role Of Medication Errors In Nursing

Medication error still remains one of the most widely recognized causes of unintended harm to patients. This persistent and recurring issue always compromises patient safety due to the morbidity and mortality of drug related problems and they also in a large extent constitute to a financial burden to the health delivery system. The role of the nurse therefore becomes very crucial in ensuring patient safety since evidence suggest that most of the errors that harm patients occur during the nurse administration phase. Promoting patient safety and quality has therefore become a priority focus in many healthcare settings. It is for this reason that that the quality and safety education for nurses (QSEN) has implemented many guidelines and competencies for nurses which aims to improve patient safety and quality nursing care.
The aim of this paper therefore is to explore the nurses role in the process of medication administration and also highlight some of the best practices that can help reduce medication errors by placing emphasis on the QSEN competency: