Making medication dispensing errors is one of the leading causes of serious injury or death among healthcare patients. In Massachusetts, healthcare professionals follow strict standards and procedures to keep their patients safe. They use a number of strategies to reduce and eliminate errors when dispensing medications.
Most common errors
The most common errors for dispensing medication are dispensing the wrong medication, using an incorrect dosage and failing to review interactions with other drugs. A frequent mistake is administering an excessive dosage that causes a minor or severe medical reaction. In some patients, their rates of blood pressure or heartbeats increase quickly and dramatically, which may lead to a stroke or aneurysm. Several patients have died after experiencing a few minutes of negative reactions. Others never report their side effects, and it’s more difficult to determine if the cause is related to medication. If an error is reported, a claim of medical malpractice may be filed.
Eliminating errors
Pharmacy automation is the most effective way of reducing medication dispensing errors. Barcode medication administration (BCMA) is used in hospitals and medical facilities to reduce the incidences of human errors while distributing medications. Nurses, caretakers and other healthcare providers use barcode scanners and automated software to process their work.
Medication errors occur to healthcare providers with different levels of experience and medical expertise. Providing the incorrect dosage is one of many medical errors that occur every day in medical facilities. Healthcare professionals are obligated to use automated scanning technology to reduce the errors that they make manually. They are also conscious of serious injuries, deaths and medical malpractice cases that may occur as a result of their mistakes.
