Paper Example on Medication Safety With Annotated Bibliography

The most common treatment intervention used in the healthcare worldwide is medication. This is because, when used safely, it leads to substantial improvements in both the well-being and the health of patients. However, new evidence reveals that medication errors presently is one of the leading sources of avoidable complications and deaths of many patients (Baker 2013). The concept of medication safety pertains to having the freedom from preventable harm that might come from medication use (Baker 2013). According to James (2013), medication safety issues not only impact on health outcomes of patients but also determines their length of stay in a medical facility, readmission rates as well as the overall cost of medication. There is, therefore, a pressing need among healthcare systems and organizations to prevent medication errors and improve clinical delivery systems. This project gives annotated bibliography and a plan necessary for ensuring medication safety in healthcare. What is more, the tool for evaluating the effectiveness of the plan in realizing its desired outcome is equally given.

Part 1: Annotated Bibliography

Baker, K. R. (2013). Medication safety: Dispensing drugs without error. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar/Cengage Learning

The book gives a practical guide to pharmacy systems in identifying where the risk of error is likely to be found as well as the appropriate plans that can be developed and used in the pharmacies to minimize the risk of committing such errors. The book equally covers areas considered to be commonly neglected such as pharmacy quality programs which monitor safety programs put in place and determine their effectiveness. Other key areas covered include medication errors prevention and safety measures for prescribing drugs. The book is important because it identifies common risk areas in pharmaceutical practice and gives the corrective approaches to ensuring patient safety.

Relihan, E. C., Silke, B., & Ryder, S. A. (2012). Design template for a medication safety programme in an acute teaching hospital. European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy: Science and Practice, 19(3), 340-344.

The article gives the layout of medication safety program to be used in an acute teaching hospital. It covers safety culture, the general infrastructure of healthcare as well as the need for effective communication in promoting safety in healthcare. The article also describes the role of leadership and governance in supporting patient safety initiatives as well as the need for having well-coordinated unit-based teams informing patient safety infrastructure.

Daly, B., & Mort, E. A. (2014). A decade after to Err is Human: what should health care leaders be doing?. Physician executive, 40(3), 50.

This article focuses on addressing the steps that healthcare industry needs to follow after the launch of the report titled To Err is Human that documented in its findings how many people had died from preventable adverse effects of medication than errors resulting from overdose. The authors of the article also describe a survey conducted on over 700 hospitals which revealed that only half of the chairmen had the priority for patient safety. To help change the culture in the healthcare industry, the authors give steps such as improving communication, increasing transparency and promoting a culture of inclusiveness. The article is most beneficial since it provides key steps towards safer and quality care.

Chourey, R. (2015). Risk Management in Hospitals. ASCI Journal of Management, 44(2).

This is a publication of ASCI journal management in the year 2015. The main aim of the journal is to emphasize the need for reflection in the healthcare industry. Also, the author identifies two types of risks which include minimized risks and eliminated risks. According to the author, the minimized risks include those that can never be eliminated but can be minimized through considerable steps in healthcare facilities. Eliminated risks on the other and are those that can be completely be prevented. This study is significant since it gives more insight into ways through which a variety of risks can be minimized

Robert Dressler MD, M. B. A., Consiglio-Ward, L., Carol Moore, M. S., Margot Savoy, M. D., Brian Aboff, M. D., & Collier, V. U. (2014). Safety science as second nature: training residents to use best practices instinctively to keep patients safe. Physician executive, 40(3), 66.

The article is a publication of Physician Executive. The article documents a review of the objectives used in improving patient safety in Christiana Health Care Systems. The objectives are listed as teaching the principles of patient safety to faculty, having a team-based interdisciplinary education, equipping individuals with both current and future leadership capabilities as well as promoting evidence-based experimental education in addition to teaching safety and quality. Other safety practices emphasized in the article include encouraging residents to attend training sessions and conferences in addition to holding discussions and conferences on ways of practicing leadership. Through such sessions, healthcare officials can promote teambuilding activities that help in fostering communication to help enhance patient safety.

The resource is particularly significant since it documents numerous strategies for promoting patient safety. Besides, the strategies given are applicable in a variety of situations.

Hydari, M. Z., Telang, R., & Marella, W. M. (2015). Electronic health records and patient safety. Communications of the ACM, 58(11), 30-32.

This is a peer-reviewed article that was published in in the Communications of the ACM journal. In the article, authors address a variety of studies that have had significant benefit to patient safety especially in hospitals found in North Carolina by describing many initiatives with the capacity to prevent preventable adverse medication impacts. First, the authors describe the law that was passed in Pennsylvania that required hospitals to confidentially report patient safety events (PESs). According to the authors, such laws worked but require further adjustments to fully promote patient safety. Further, the authors observe that the hospitals where the use of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) had been implemented recorded over 30 percent declined. Also, the authors observe that EHRs enables both physicians, pharmacists and nurses to make accurate records and use past information to in deciding the best medication and treatment techniques that are promoting patient safety.

The document is integral in that it gives a detailed elaboration on the role of electronic health records in enhancing patient safety. Similarly, the article is essential since it gives a variety of other references that can be cited by other scholars to allow further research on the topic.

James, J. T. (2013). A new, evidence-based estimate of patient harms associated with hospital care. Journal of patient safety, 9(3), 122-128.

This article is also peer-reviewed and was published in the journal for patient safety. The author documents American deaths associated with preventable adverse effects of PAEs by assessing literature that was published between the years 2008 to 2011. Similarly, the author describes a variety of medical errors such as such as errors of commission, errors of contest, errors of omission as well as diagnostic errors. Further, the author observes that commission errors actions that may harm a patient when performed improperly are the easiest errors to view as preventable. Additionally, the author observes that both accountability and transparency plays an essential role in promoting medical safety.

Thurman, S., Sullivan, M., Williams, M. A., & Gaffney, A. (2004). Intravenous medication safety systems help prevent harm and career-ending mistakes: Extensive nursing input helps design an easy-to-use system that intercepts critical errors. Journal of nursing administration, 34, 2-4.

This article was initially published by the Nursing Management Journal. The author's main aim was to help address the problems that nurses are exposed to. For instance, the article indicates that a majority of systems available in health facilities do not adequately safeguard against accidentally giving the correct amount of dosage for various treatment. For instance, the authors indicate that as much as it is unlikely for a nurse to give a patient 100 pills overdose, an error may occur when entering information that might result in 100 pulls overdose. To help solve such errors, the author gives a variety of solutions such as the use of machines that administer given medication. According to the authors, the machines would enable the computation of the amount of medication that a patient can be given according to their weight and should wrong quantity of drugs be subscribed; an alert will sound to remind the nurse to edit the prescription.

This study is important since it gives essential information on how to effectively eliminate preventable harm.

Part 2: Medication Safety Plan

The primary goal of this plan is to reduce the number of patients exposed to adverse but preventable medication events and to effectively manage medication of patients through evidence-based approaches.

Plan for Quality Process and Risk Management.

A

Not implemented B

Partially implemented C

Fully implemented for some D

Fully implemented for all.

1 Pharmacy staff to be fully trained in both clinical and administrative procedures on ways of 2 Pharmacy staff to ensure errors are openly discussed without fear of reprisal or embarrassment 3 If a medication error has occurred, regardless of the amount of harm, the errors must be disclosed to prescriber as soon as possible 4 Patients and caregivers should be asked to confirm if the prefilled syringe contains the intended medicine 5 The Pharmacy should ensure that sample devices are obtained from the manufactures to be used in educating the patients. 6 The store should develop and carry out annual educational programs to encourage safe use of medication in the community 7 Immediate supervisors to ensure that staffs who engage in behaviors that might compromise patient safety are assisted to adopt safe behavioral practices in the future. 8 Pharmacy Leadership to often demonstrate its commitment to public safety by putting in place positive initiatives to encourage error reporting. 9 Clear definitions with examples of hazardous conditions and medication errors that need reporting should be established and disseminated to all staff and patients as well as caregivers. Part 3: Tool for Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Plan

This tool ensures that the safety plan put in place adequately meets its set goals.

i). The plan has score areas A, B, C & D with well-defined baselines and targets that once carefully marked makes it easy for monitoring and assessing the effectiveness of the plan.

ii). Results from the core areas of the plan are to be incorporated into decision-making which includes resource allocation. This will ensure that the plan is followed and with most of its attributes fully implemented.

iii). Immediate supervisors to provide routine feedback regarding the behaviors of the staff after being assisted on safe behavioral practices as indicated in the plan.

iv). Monitoring and evaluation of the plan to be conducted on regular basis and communication of results to be done promptly.

v). Data collected from the plan should be effectively assessed and validation conducted to allow for determination of the effectiveness of the plan in achieving the desired outcome.