Policy Change on Medication Error Policy

Case Study: Policy Change
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Case Study: Policy Change
What information from online and other resources is available to Abby?
Nurses are patients’ last safety check in the medication administration process. Since they spend up to 40% of their time handling or administering drugs, they require appropriate support to reduce the likelihood of medication errors (Wondmieneh et al., 2020). Abby intends to initiate a policy change to trigger system-wide improvements for eradicating these mistakes associated with diverse economic and human costs. Collecting appropriate information would be fundamental for enriching her policy brief and demonstrating the urgency of the course. In this context, she can leverage the diverse studies covering critical error-prone areas, including “prescribing, transcribing, dispensing and/ or administering” (Wondmieneh et al., 2020, p. 2). The author further emphasizes the administration period, including wrong timing, incorrect doses for a patient, erroneous administration route, dosage omission, technical misplays, and poor documentation, which would identify appropriate ways of sustainable solutions. This data will be critical in formulating a comprehensive policy change that addresses all loopholes associated with medication errors in the facility.
What individuals, hospital departments, groups, and other organizations can Abby enlist to support her efforts to promote this policy change?
Abby needs to create an interprofessional team to support her policy change. Al Mutair et al. (2021) reveal that preventing medication errors is a complex endeavor requiring concerted efforts beyond the healthcare providers within a healthcare facility. Such a consideration is critical because mistakes can occur due to procedures, medication products, or labeling. In this context, she should reach out to pharmaceutical companies because of their role in packaging, labeling, and storing and non-governmental organizations for supportive assistance. She should enlist the different departments at the facility level, including the pharmacy and health records, due to their role in data management, record keeping, and public health. On a professional scale, Abby should consider the input of experts such as pharmacists, patient safety officers, physicians as the primary prescribers, chief medical officers, and other nurse experts (Wondmieneh et al., 2020). The contributions of these interprofessional personalities and departments will birth a r...