Adverse Medical Events Related to Medication Errors

Adverse Medical Events Related to Medication Errors
Medication errors and the associated adverse medical events are common in hospitals. Nursing students are highly likely to cause adverse medical events related to nursing tasks during nursing placements. An adverse medical event risks delivering high-quality healthcare services (Alhassan et al., 2019). A medication error is an omission or commission error that occurs at any point along the path that starts when a physician prescribes a drug and ends when a patient gets the medicine (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2019). An adverse drug effect is a harm caused to a patient due to exposure to the wrong medication (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2019). Alhassan et al. (2019) reported that adverse medical events cause 30% of deaths in sub-Saharan Africa, and many of these go unreported. This paper aims to analyze adverse medical events related to medication errors in hospital setups.
An Adverse Event during Nursing Placements
Medication errors are preventable and could cause patient harm, inappropriate medical usage, mortality, and morbidity (Dreijer et al., 2018). During nursing placement, a nursing student experienced an adverse drug event related to the wrong dosage. The student administered a high intravenous anticoagulant heparin, leading to bleeding complications. They failed to safely use heparin, which needs weight-based dosing and frequent tests to monitor blood clotting (Warnock & Huang, 2020). Abnormal laboratory results detected an overdose of heparin. As a result of the high dosage administration, the patient died due to bleeding complications, hence an adverse medical event.
The Adverse Event in Other Facilities
In other facilities, medication errors related to administering high doses of intravenous anticoagulant heparin occur in the inpatient setting. If a clinician fails to respond appropriately, a bleeding complication, among other complications, could cause death (Warnock & Huang, 2020). The usual adverse effects of high heparin administration include injection site reactions, nosebleeds, bruising, black stools, severe bleeding, and hyperkalemia (Warnock & Huang, 2020). In a study conducted in a specific hospital setting, Kovacs et al. (2022) reported that a 77-year-old man experienced adverse effects of heparin-induced hyperkalemia. The man presented with shortness of breath and a productive cough. He was later found to have concomitant symptomatic COVID-19 disease and a non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction. His condition necessitated a prescription and an infusion of high-dose unfractionated heparin. The clinician prescribed the appropriate high dose of anticoagulant heparin based on the patient's weight and needs. Nevertheless, the nurse administered a higher amount of heparin infusion, which caused hyperkalemia. In this case, the involved health provider was a nurse who administered the patient the wrong dosage of anticoagulant heparin.
Impacts of High-Heparin Infusion
The effect of high-dose heparin administration on the man was elevated serum potassium. Increased serum potassium levels due to high heparin infusions were managed and resolved after heparin administration was discontinued (Kovacs et al., 202...