Causes of Medication Error in Hospital Setting

Salima Shams*
*Senior Instructor, Aga Khan University School of Nursing and Midwifery, Karachi, Pakistan.
Periodicity:February - April'2017
DOI : https://doi.org/10.26634/jnur.7.1.13491

Abstract

In today's highly competitive and economic driven era, health care organizations strive for quality patient care. One of the major resources in delivering quality care in a health care organization is health care personnels. Similarly, emplaced systems are also equally important for providing the best quality care to patients and their family members. Hence, loop holes or malpractices at institutional or individual levels could endanger patients' lives. Simultaneously, it adversely impacts on health care organization’s reputation and prestige. Drug error is one of the commonest incidences that occur at a health care organization. These could be severe enough that it could endanger a patient’s life. Various factors contribute towards it, such as human (health care staff or patient), and organizational. Adverse consequences because of medication error could further increase if it involves chemotherapeutic drugs. However, near miss/ close call incidences could potentially end up into fatal incidences. However, they also serve as a great learning and improvement opportunity for preventing future reviewable sentinel incidences at health care organizations. This paper is highlighting a case scenario related to non-reviewable sentinel event in light of Reason's four stage model of human error theory, organizational and human (health care professionals and patient) factors that contributed to the event and lastly recommendations are presented in light of the reviewed literature.

Keywords

Medication Error, Human Error Theory, Chemotherapy

How to Cite this Article?

Shams, S. (2017). Causes of Medication Error in Hospital Setting. i-manager’s Journal on Nursing, 7(1), 34-39. https://doi.org/10.26634/jnur.7.1.13491

References

[1]. Armitage, G. (2009). “Human error theory: Relevance to nurse management”. Journal of Nursing Management, Vol.17, No.2, pp.193-202.
[2]. Buetow, S., Kiata, L., Liew, T., Kenealy, T., Dovey, S., & Elwyn, G. (2009). “Patient error: A preliminary taxonomy”. The Annals of Family Medicine, Vol.7, No.3, pp.223-231.
[3]. Dickinson, A., McCall, E., Twomey, B., & James, N. (2010). “Paediatric nurses' understanding of the process and procedure of double-checking medications”. Journal of Clinical Nursing, Vol.19, No.5-6, pp.728-735.
[4]. Garrouste-Orgeas, M., Philippart, F., Bruel, C., Max, A., Lau, N., & Misset, B. (2012). “Overview of medical errors and adverse events”. Annals of Intensive Care, Vol.2, No.1, pp.2.
[5]. Hinckley, C. C. (2010). “Joint Commission Resources Mission”. JCIA Pocket Guide. The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi.
[6]. Jones, J. H., & Treiber, L. A. (2012). “When nurses become the “second” victim”. In Nursing Forum, Vol.47, No.4, pp.286-291.
[7]. Kim, K. S., Kwon, S. H., Kim, J. A., & Cho, S. (2011). “Nurses' perceptions of medication errors and their contributing factors in South Korea”. Journal of Nursing Management, Vol.19, No.3, pp.346-353.
[8]. Kumar, S., Shaikh, A. J., Khalid, S., & Masood, N. (2010). “Influence of patient's perceptions, beliefs and knowledge about cancer on treatment decision making in Pakistan”. Asian Pac. J. Cancer Prev., Vol.11, No.1, pp.251-255.
[9]. Markert, A., Thierry, V., Kleber, M., Behrens, M., & Engelhardt, M. (2009). “Chemotherapy safety and severe adverse events in cancer patients: Strategies to efficiently avoid chemotherapy errors in in-and outpatient treatment”. International Journal of Cancer, Vol.124, No.3, pp.722-728.
[10]. McDowell, S. E., Ferner, H. S., & Ferner, R. E. (2009). “The pathophysiology of medication errors: How and where they arise”. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, Vol.67, No.6, pp.605-613.
[11]. Olvera-Arreola, S. S., Hernández-Cantoral, A., Arroyo-Lucas, S., Nava-Galán, M. G., Pérez-López, M. T., & Cárdenas-Sánchez, P. A. (2012). “Factors relating to falls in hospitalized patients”. Revista de investigacion clinica; organo del Hospital de Enfermedades de la Nutricion, Vol.65, No.1, pp.88-93.
[12]. Reason, J. (2000). “Human error: Models and management”. British Medical Journal, Vol.320, No.7237, pp.768.
[13]. Sullivan, E. J. & Decker, P. J. (2009). Effective Leadership and Management in Nursing (7th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.
[14]. Taxis, K., & Barber, N. (2003). “Causes of intravenous medication errors: An ethnographic study”. Quality and Safety in Health Care, Vol.12, No.5, pp.343-347.
If you have access to this article please login to view the article or kindly login to purchase the article

Purchase Instant Access

Single Article

North Americas,UK,
Middle East,Europe
India Rest of world
USD EUR INR USD-ROW
Pdf 35 35 200 20
Online 35 35 200 15
Pdf & Online 35 35 400 25

Options for accessing this content:
  • If you would like institutional access to this content, please recommend the title to your librarian.
    Library Recommendation Form
  • If you already have i-manager's user account: Login above and proceed to purchase the article.
  • New Users: Please register, then proceed to purchase the article.