When it comes to the blunders committed during the medication process of a patient, there are a lot of people we blame upon. Not a new thing to show up. However, we rather stop considering nurses analogous to machines. When even machines fail to flag inaccuracies, sometimes even a nurse fails to do so. It does not make the profession in any case lesser noble or compassionate.
Be it any ailment, the settings wherein health care professionals are meant to work, consist of many physical systems. There will be colleagues, team members, equipment, science, and the technology itself. It's notably amazing how far the healthcare settings have reached in terms of advancement and technological revolution. At the same time, it's never possible that a patient gets afflicted because of a single person. So, who shall be blamed? Well, interruptions have been identified to be one of the informal factors in medication administration errors.
To prove this right, it’s done practically. By that we mean- a reputed hospital in Toronto, actually practiced mitigating the effects of interruptions by applying some sustainable safety interventions to the medication administration.
The first scenario of the practical procedure of proving that interruptions are the major reason for afflicting the state of any patient, included certain medical procedures to be done while getting interrupted by various sources. The rate of the errors which occurred was documented.
Continuing the practical procedure, the second scenario involved interventions. You must be wondering which kind of interventions would have been involved. For the suspense to end, a user-centered approach was incorporated, which means, a focus group was asked to gather the feedback.
Moreover, to remind the nurses to check the connections, clamps and programming; signage was adjoined to infusion pumps. Further, 'do not interrupt' signs were posted on equipment and in the key areas. Critical medication checks were made to be done in verification booths that isolated nurses from outside disturbance and noise. A countdown timer was given to the nurses who were meant to perform timed operations such as to deliver IV push medications. Not only this, a standardized procedure was started in order to verify the drugs before the administration. This ensured accuracy.
Lastly,
When both of the scenarios were compared, it was found that the human factors did really affect the medication process, not in a very good manner. The second scenario was proved to be more preferable. These interventions were really proven to improve the overall medication process and reduce errors in push volumes, volumes of ambulatory pumps, pump programming and IV drug push rates.
However, notably a nursing student shall confront such cases in order to cope up with the real life situations and the potential troubles; the reason why Simulation Based Learning and countless specialized nursing courses are offered these days.
Be it any ailment, the settings wherein health care professionals are meant to work, consist of many physical systems. There will be colleagues, team members, equipment, science, and the technology itself. It's notably amazing how far the healthcare settings have reached in terms of advancement and technological revolution. At the same time, it's never possible that a patient gets afflicted because of a single person. So, who shall be blamed? Well, interruptions have been identified to be one of the informal factors in medication administration errors.
To prove this right, it’s done practically. By that we mean- a reputed hospital in Toronto, actually practiced mitigating the effects of interruptions by applying some sustainable safety interventions to the medication administration.
The first scenario of the practical procedure of proving that interruptions are the major reason for afflicting the state of any patient, included certain medical procedures to be done while getting interrupted by various sources. The rate of the errors which occurred was documented.
Continuing the practical procedure, the second scenario involved interventions. You must be wondering which kind of interventions would have been involved. For the suspense to end, a user-centered approach was incorporated, which means, a focus group was asked to gather the feedback.
Moreover, to remind the nurses to check the connections, clamps and programming; signage was adjoined to infusion pumps. Further, 'do not interrupt' signs were posted on equipment and in the key areas. Critical medication checks were made to be done in verification booths that isolated nurses from outside disturbance and noise. A countdown timer was given to the nurses who were meant to perform timed operations such as to deliver IV push medications. Not only this, a standardized procedure was started in order to verify the drugs before the administration. This ensured accuracy.
Lastly,
When both of the scenarios were compared, it was found that the human factors did really affect the medication process, not in a very good manner. The second scenario was proved to be more preferable. These interventions were really proven to improve the overall medication process and reduce errors in push volumes, volumes of ambulatory pumps, pump programming and IV drug push rates.
However, notably a nursing student shall confront such cases in order to cope up with the real life situations and the potential troubles; the reason why Simulation Based Learning and countless specialized nursing courses are offered these days.
