Medication and Injection Error, Free Essay in Medicine

Over the years Medication and injection error cases have been reported to increase across the globe. In the recent year's research have shown that more mistakes take place with the health caretakers than with doctors and physicians. Medication errors occur during choosing, manufacturing, prescription, administering or taking medicine (Thirumagal et al. 2017). In this paper, I am going to discuss two types of medical errors that I have experienced in the recent years.

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First is the authorized drug error. This happened when I received medicine that was prescribed for another patient. Instead of being administered with Malaria injection an insulin injection was administered. The cause of the wrong administration of the dose was due to mix up of drug rebels. As a result of this error there was an increase in heartbeat, rapid breathing and finally fainting. When I went back to the hospital, the doctor was able to identify that the effects were due to the wrong medication I had received.

The second error was the compliance error. This happened when I was not keen on taking the drugs at the time the doctor prescribed them. This meant that I took the pills at the wrong time and sometimes I never took them at all. This occurred due to the personal neglect of doctor's instruction. As a result, I started developing frequent headaches especially after taking the drugs, I also experienced stomach upset and finally lack of appetite.

Due to the side effects and the fatal consequences that happen when there is a medical or injectional error precaution and preventive measures have been put in place. They include the use of tall man lettering in naming medicines that have similar names as in cases of drugs such as traMADOL and trAZADONE. This helps the people ministering or taking the medication to be able to differentiate between the two drugs (Harkanen, Saano & VehvilainenJulkunen, 2017).

Another method that has been used to prevent medical errors is to ensure that medicine is appropriately stored (Harkanen, Saano & VehvilainenJulkunen, 2017). Drugs that are supposed to be refrigerated are kept in the refrigerator with the required temperature while those that are supposed to be at room temperature have been kept in safe places away from contamination and direct sunshine. This is to maintain the drug's efficacy.

The third measure that has been used in providing a drug guide. The drug guide always includes direction on how a drug is to be taken, what time and in which quantity (Harkanen, Saano & VehvilainenJulkunen, 2017). The drug guide also includes the information on the substances that are used to make that particular drug. This information helps avoid fatal side effects such as allergic effects. The drug guide can either be in print or electronic form. The print form is done with clear letters that are legible.

At the end of the research, I have learned the following lesson; medicine and injection errors are performed either due to the neglect of the instruction given or by mistake. Majority of the mistakes are due to negligence. A patient may decide to neglect the doctor's instructions, or the health officer may disregard the instructions from the doctor or the manufactures. The mistake often occurs when the person is not concision or does not have information concerning the error they are performing. Either way, it is the responsibility of all drug users to get information about the drugs they are using and to be conscious when taking or administering medication.

Reference

Thirumagal, M., Ahamedbari, M. A. R., Samaranayake, N. R., & Wanigatunge, C. A. (2017). Pattern of medication errors among inpatients in a resource-limited hospital setting. Postgraduate Medical Journal, 93(1105), 686-690.

Harkanen, M., Saano, S., & VehvilainenJulkunen, K. (2017). Using incident reports to inform the prevention of medication administration errors. Journal of clinical nursing, 26(21-22), 3486-3499.