Medication Mishaps In The Hospital

 A video explaining on how to avoid medication errors. 

There are a lot of mishaps that happen in the hospital with and without our knowledge. While some of these errors are relatively minor some are deadly.  It is often sometimes medication is incorrectly given to patients or even the wrong one was given. While this can be reversed with an opposing medication/antidote, that reverses the effects of the original incorrectly given medication. 

    Although many of our mistakes can be reversed, some cannot and can have lasting effects. These mistakes can have traumatic effects on the body or lead to death of the patient. Anything that causes a bad reaction in the body can cause trauma to the body. In a person with ALS this can have major lasting effects. Any type of traumatic event that occurs to a person with ALS can cause the process of progression of the disease to speed up. This leads to the muscles atrophying at a faster pace and can lead to a faster death. 

    Now this is not the case for an average person, it still can have lasting effects and change how the body functions. Anytime of trauma to a normal person’s body takes time to recover from, but some medication errors can lead to brain damage leaving the person with permanent damage to their body. Such as if the person is allergic to the medication, and even that is on a scale of how allergic the person is. But if the wrong medication is administered depending on what is needed in the moment the effects can be drastic. 

    There are many medications that are available in the United States, 6,800 prescription medications and countless over-the-counter drugs are available. These medications have many uses, can look alike, and can be mixed up easily if accidentally dropped. This a lot more common than people think and on average  7,000 to 9,000 people die from medication error.  There are different types of medication errors  for example administering to the wrong patient, or simply incorrect medication administration. 

    There is a theory that these errors are not because of cognitive or medical causes. This stems from there are so many medications and trying to remember what does what or does not is a lot for one person. One singular medication doesn't always work the same for one person as it does another. One medication can also be used to treat or help with so many different things. Depending on what medications are being taken they can also interact and cause a reversed effect of what they wanted outcome is. 

    According to CBS News a hospital in Oregon gave the wrong medication to a lady, killing her. " Loretta Macpherson, 65, died shortly after she was given a paralyzing agent typically used during surgeries instead of an anti-seizure medication...". It is still unknown as to what exactly the error was, whether it was mislabeled in the pharmacy, or if it was in the wrong spot in the cart. 

    They don't know what caused this error, but it is stated at the end of the article, "...the number of deaths due to preventable hospital errors ranges from 210,000 to 400,000 people each year.". The fact that this number is so high is concerning for our country's health care system. This needs to be fixed and there are several ways that could possibly reduce the amount of these errors and lead to fewer deaths.

     In healthcare there is a lot happening at one time, and that is with just one patient, and you can be assigned many patients at one time. So, there is a lot of room for error and to add on sleep deprivation from long shifts the medical care team does a great job of taking care of us. 

    Sleep deprivation can really mess with the mind and even make us hallucinate or hear things that were not said or were not there. It also affects reaction time by slowing it down and leads to trouble focusing and retaining your attention. This is your body telling you, that you need more sleep and to go back to sleep. But as a health care provider you can't always do that, most lean on energy drinks to get caffeine to keep them awake longer. 

    A possible solution to this is to communicate better, and to chart what each patient has been given with dosage right after it is given. This might be a possible solution to help lessen the number of overdoses on medication. 

    More charting technology is coming out and is already out such as having a barcode on each medication package specific to each medicine, to make sure the right one is given. 

    When a health care professional scans the medication it opens to the patient chart, and tells says if it's the correct medication and if it is the proper dosage and. Health care providers must scan the medication before administering it to the patient so that way it goes in the chart that they received the medication. This is so overdoses on medications lessen because it is charted the exact time and dosage the patient is given so the nurse or health care provider on the next shift knows and does not overdose them. 

    So with these changes within the healthcare system, it will hopefully lead to less medication errors. These changes will then lead to fewer deaths within the hospital. The changing technology is improving and according to the article "How Technology Has Changed The Role Of Nursing". "Technology considerably reduces the likelihood of error in logging patient information like allergies to medications, medical history, and health conditions and illnesses. Apps make the administration of medication much less confusing or prone to human error. This, in turn, improves health outcomes and reduces hospital readmission rates."