Prevention of Medical Errors and Medication Errors

Subject areas

This course counts toward the state boards and subject areas below.

Disclosure statements

Goals

Upon completion of this course, one should be able to:

identify goals and regulations related to medical errors.

Explain 2 different types of root cause analysis.

Explain how Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) differs from other

forms of root cause analysis.

Identify and discuss causes of medical errors.

Explain the steps to identification of patients.

Discuss issues related to handwriting.

Explain procedures for verbal/telephone orders and reporting and hands off communication.

List and explain the 5 rights of medication administration.

Explain at least 4 methods of prevent wrong-route errors.

A medical error is a preventable adverse effect of care ("iatrogenesis"), whether or not it is evident or harmful to the patient. This might include an inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis or treatment of a disease, injury, syndrome, behavior, infection, or other ailment.

Preventing medication errors

Follow the 5 rights of medication administration:

Right patient

Right drug

Right dose

Right time

Right route

Goals and regulations

There is a growing consensus that medical errors must and CAN be controlled

and increasing regulations requiring that they be reported. The Joint

Reference

• National Patient Safety Goals. (2008). The Joint Commission. Retrieved

June 6, 2008, from

http://www.jointcommission.org/PatientSafety/NationalPatientSafetyGoals/

• Chassin, M.R., & Becher, E.C. (2002, June 4). Annals of Internal Medicine

136 (11): 826-833. Retrieved June 6, 2008, from

http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/136/11/826?maxtoshow=&HITS=10

www.rn.org