Quality and Sustainability Paper Part Two - Identifying Opportunities to Reduce Medication Error Rates by Nursing Staff
As reported previously, medication errors can occur in virtually any treatment setting, including patients’ homes, but the problem is especially pronounced in hospitals where the adverse reactions caused by medication errors can result in extended inpatient stays or even death. As also reported previously, nurses account for the largest percentage of medication errors, and these errors affect more than 7 million patients, cost nearly $21 billion and cause more than one million emergency room visits and three-and-a-half million visits to doctors’ offices each year. The purpose of part two of this study is to provide an overview of a selected nationwide health care organization and a description of its successes and failures in reducing medication error rates. In addition, this part of the study identifies a quality area in which nursing science can have a significant positive impact and the variables that should be used to evaluate its effectiveness. Finally, a discussion concerning potential obstacles that may hinder the implementation of the quality or safety measure and those groups or leadership roles within the entity with whom collaboration will be needed is followed by a summary of the research and important findings concerning the role of nursing staff in reducing medication errors in the conclusion.
Review and Discussion
1. Identification of a health care entity
The real-world organization of interest, hereinafter referred to alternatively as the “XYZ Health Care Organization” or just “XYZ,” operates the nation’s largest health care network. Established in 1930 in response to the growing demand for health care services for those individual who served in the United States armed forces, the XYZ Health Care Organization is a Cabinet-level federal agency that is responsible for the provision of the entire range of modern medical care services for eligible patients. At present, XYZ employs more than 377,000 health care workers, operates a network of 170 tertiary health care facilities and more than 1,240 outpatient clinics that provide services...
References
About XYZ. (2018). XYZ Health Care Organization. Retrieved from https://www.va.gov/health/ findcare.asp.
Bellum, P. (2018). New study shows quality improvement initiative working. XYZ Health Care Organization. Retrieved from https://www.va.gov/health/NewsFeatures/20110825a.asp.
Incident reporting. (2015). XYZ Health Care Organization. Retrieved from https://www.va.gov/ vdl/documents/financial_admin/incident_reporting/irum.doc.
Stoppler, M. C. & Marks, J. W. (2018) The most common medication errors. MedicineNet. Retrieved from https://www.medicinenet.com/drugs_the_most_common_ medication_errors/views.htm.
The origin of the XYZ motto. (2018). XYZ Health Care Organization. Retrieved from https://www.va.gov/opa/publications/celebrate/vamotto.pdf.
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