Autumn Safety Tips for Older Adults
Autumn Safety Tips for Older Adults and Seniors This is the third season of the year It is time for a real “change of season.”
Medication Dispensing errors are very costly for the pharmacist. In addition, medication dispensing errors can be, and often are, dangerous for the patient. Pharmacists can take simple steps to help eliminate this problem. Here is a typical example. Mrs. Nair and Ms. Kappil are both PharmD student. They are attending the University of Florida Working Professional Doctor of Pharmacy Program. Dr. Woods is a clinical assistant professor teaching at the University of Wyoming School of Pharmacymie.
Dispensing errors lead to 20% of all of the medication errors. More so, it can lead to serious morbidity and mortality, issues. Furthermore, these kinds of dispensing errors greatly increase the costs of the public’s health care costs. Faulty dispensing may also result in lawsuits. These are very costly and lead to s in professional medical liability insurance coverage. Dispensing in error is not easy for the pharmacist. Hence, the goal of every pharmacy is to lower the risks of dispensing errors.
Dispensing errors include any inconsistencis or deviations from the prescription order, such as dispensing the incorrect drug, dose, dosage form, wrong quantity, or inappropriate, incorrect, or inadequate labeling. Also, confusing or inadequate directions for use, incorrect or inappropriate preparation, packaging, or storage of medication prior to dispensing are considered to be errors.3 Errors occur at a rate of 4 per day in a pharmacy filling 250 prescriptions daily, which amounts to an estimated 51.5 million errors out of 3 billion prescriptions filled annually nationwide.
For example, an old fashion pill box. Therefore, the main strategy to reduce dispensing errors is to implement a positive approach rather than a negative approach. Med-Q Medication Reminder offers the following list of strategies to help to minimizing dispensing errors:
Transcription errors happen all the time. A leading cause of Medication Dispensing Errors. For example, omissions and all kinds of inaccuracies. In fact, these may account for 15-20% of all dispensing errors. These errors can be prevented. They can reduce them by consistently using reliable methods to verify patient identity when entering the prescription into the computer’s data base. There are some good rules. Such as, the Joint Commission says that at least 2 patient identifiers be used before any medications are given at the hospital . This has shown to reduce the chances of errors due to sound-alike, look-alike names. Other indentifiers are, age of the patient, allergies, concomitant medications, contraindications and other factors.
Pharmacists have to decipher some very bad handwriting. Doctors are famous for their “chicken scrawl”. Try to guessing illegible writing is a problem. Pharmacists must try to decipher ambiguous prescriptions with nonstandard abbreviations,. Worse, call-in prescriptions frequently lead to medication errors. If in doubt, call your healthcare professional to clarify any doubts or questions. Clarification obtained from the physician should be promptly documented. Dr Klien says, “All verbal prescriptions should be immediately transcribed to a blank prescription pad and read back to the caller to ensure that the prescription has been transcribed correctly”.
Similar sounding prescription medication lead to almost 1/3 of all of the medication errors. These types of errors are attributed to something called “confirmation bias”.
people’s tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with their existing beliefs. This biased approach to decision making is largely unintentional, and it results in a person ignoring information that is inconsistent with their beliefs
For example, a new, unfamiliar drug may be subconciuoslt read as the old pill. Hence, Medication Dispensing Errors. It happens when the more familiar one is what the mind will recognize. These errors can actual be fatal in some cases. Such errors can be reduced in a couple of ways. First, by placing reminders on the different stock bottle . Second, making proper notes in the computer system . And third, making sure that all of the staff has been alerted to these commonly confused drug names.
Many times a misplaced zeros or decimal points leads to problems. Teh wrong numbers are big factor . These kinds of misinterpratations leads to 100’s of thousands of medication errors. A transcription or interpretation error involving a zero or a decimal point can mean the patient may receive at least 10 times more medication or 10 times less then the needed dose. Obnviously, this will result in serious consequences. One way these issues can go away is to use by using computer alerts. Another way, stocking a single strength of the medication in the pharmacy. These errors are often caughtif someone reviews the label directions when talking with the patient. The ISMP (Institute for Safe Medication Practices) has a long of abbreviations that have shown to be error prone. These include symbols, and dose designations. Being familiar with this type of information may also help prevent dispensing errors.
First of all, try to organizing your individual work environment. A specific , repetitive workflow has been proven to lower dispensing errors. Try these three things
These will facilitate a smooth flow from one prescription filling to the next one. Again, the goal is to reduce the likelihood of dispensing errors. First of all, the e Professional ought to make a specfic routine for entering, filling, and checking the final prescriptions. In addition, working with one single pill at a time. And affixing the label to the patient’s prescription container before working on the next prescription . This is been proven to lower the risk of mistakes. Finally, never, ever leave any pill bottle unlabeled.
Multitasking and distraction during work is the leading cause of Medication Dispensing Errors. Automatic-refill requests can reduce some of the distractions and thereby reduce dispensing errors. Also, having pharmacy technicians assist the pharmacists by performing routine functions will help minimize distractions. Although the extent to which distraction at work contributes to cognitive error is unclear, recent studies suggest that perception of dispensing errors by pharmacists is influenced by factors such as design of workflow, window services, and automatic dispensing.3 It must therefore be the goal of each pharmacy to improve the internal environment, even at the cost of patient convenience, in order to reduce medication errors.
Over 80% of errors are discovered during counseling. Many can be corrected before the patient leaves the pharmacy. For example, using a Smart Pill Box or Pill Dispenser with alarms. This is an example of the pharmacist go ” above and beyond” by giving advice to each patient. For example, to open the pill container and show the actual medication to the patient during counseling. This works better than giving it out in a paper bag. Hence, a great chance for the patient to see the medication and ask any questions. A typical question, it looks different from what they have been taking. Counseling must include the instructions on how to take the medication. Many dispensing errors are caused by simple misunderstanding on how it is to be taken. Teaching patients about safe and effective use of their medication leads to better outcomes. It helps patient remain involved in their health care. The outcome of this involvement, reduced medication errors.
This is when medication in the dispensing process is talked about. It is one of the critical strategies that every pharmacist needs to use. Hence, minimize dispensing errors. In addition, reporting errors as they occur and when they occur will help in learning from the mistakes. This will, hopefully, prevent these kinds of med errors in the future. For further information on Medication Dispensing Errors, you can go to the ISMP Web site at www.ismp.org.
Autumn Safety Tips for Older Adults and Seniors This is the third season of the year It is time for a real “change of season.”
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