Medication management: Reducing drug errors, striving for safer practice

Abstract

The issue of drug errors in the NHS has been highlighted recently in the mainstream press, and has shown that mistakes can, and occasionally do, happen. Yet nurses are in a unique position to prevent drug errors, as they are at the forefront of medication management. To do this, nurses need to understand the issues related to the administration of a drug, e.g. the five or six rights. Nuses should also be aware of drug errors that can occur before and after administration, i.e. considering the full medication journey, as a drug error can occur from naming, labelling, prescribing, transcribing, dispensing, preparing, failing to undertake a medication review and failing to monitor outcomes. This article considers drug errors and their causes, and draws on current literature to discuss some of the strategies nurses can use to prevent such errors from occurring. These strategies are not without their own problems and issues; nevertheless, a lot of information has been accrued about drug errors and it is time to start putting these together and take action by applying them to everyday medication management practice in order to ensure patient safety at all times.