Reducing medication interruptions on a progressive care unit

Abstract

Medication errors are a leading, yet preventable, cause of patient harm. Healthcare providers need to make the medication administration process as safe as possible to reduce adverse drug events (ADEs), which include medication errors as well as near-misses. Medication errors are defined as medication administration at the incorrect time, frequency, strength, or dose; by the incorrect route; or to the incorrect patient.1 A near-miss can be defined as a risk of a medication error that is discovered before the error reaches the patient.2 Challenges arise when healthcare professionals must administer multiple medications to several patients, which can be complicated when confronted with a vast array of outside factors and interruptions. The original five rights of medication administration include the following: Right Patient, Right Medication, Right Dose, Right Route, and Right Time. These rights are often neglected when interruptions occur during a medication pass.3 Evidence reveals that millions of medical errors occur each year; 250,000 of these errors are directly related to medication errors, causing 44,000 to 98,000 deaths per year.4 The authors of the present study endeavored to reduce interruptions during a medication pass to ultimately decrease the number of errors and near-misses on the 31-bed progressive care unit in a community-based hospital. The nurses’ schedules and assignments were random and followed a 4:1 patient-to-nurse ratio. The study began in November 2017 and concluded in August 2018. The purpose of the