This research examines the issue of medication errors in health care institutional settings. Recent high profile cases of death and serious but lesser harm stemming from medication errors have alarmed the general public and prompted calls for corrective action (Altman C1; Brink 53; Cowley, Rosenberg, and Brant 54; Gorman 60). Errors in prescribing and administering medications occur at all hospitals in the United States according to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (Assessing C8). One estimate is that medical errors, a broader term that included medical errors, results in up to 80,000 deaths each year in American hospitals (Gorman 60). One recent study found, however, that approximately 60 percent of all medication errors were caught before they reached the patient, and that another 37 percent of all medication errors caused no harm to the patient (Morrissey 76). Three-percent of all medication errors, however, did result in serious harm to the patient, and permanent harm occurred on 0.1 percent of all medication errors. Other studies, however, have found a much higher rate of permanent harm stemming from medication errors.
In the remainder of this examination of medication errors in health care institutional settings, the issue is considered within a nursing perspective. Types of medication errors are identified, nursing practices that either enhance or deter the probability of occurrence of medication errors are reviewed, and corrective actions are discussed.
There are nine major types of medication errors, and numerous minor varieties (Lilley and Guanci 15). The terms "major" and "minor" used in this context refer to frequency of occurrence, and not to severity of outcome--potential or actual. The nine major types of medication error are as follows:
1. Prescription. Prescription-based medication errors occur when an inappropriate drug is prescribed for a patient. Inappropriatenes...