Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) are the foundation for the treatment of various musculoskeletal and joint pain. While it is an effective form of pain therapy, not all patients can tolerate the side effects of a traditional NSAIDS such as a gastrointestinal toxicity. As a result, either the patient reduces the dosage or stop taking the medication at all. This kind of response is frustrating to the physical therapist since the patient's participation to achieve a desired outcome is hindered. A well versed and competent healthcare practitioner is the key to maximizing patients safety and minimizing medication risk. Collaboration with the patient's healthcare provider is also necessary to ensure an integrated approach to patient
Outcome measures assess whether the interventions to improve medication safety practice will be successful. During the interview of the new employee, competency evaluation related to medication administration will be applied first. In addition, during the orientation for these new employees, adequate training will be provided to ensure the importance of preventing medication errors. They will be given a list of similar and look-alike medications and will focus on medications that cause the most adverse reactions when errors may occur. Then, after training and when staff start working, they will be supervised during their first few months. When they are not supervised, they will be assessed and evaluated for any errors. During this process,
As future pharmacists, we are going to face with not only the medications but also the patients, which the former ones are our tools while the latter ones are the people we use correct tools to care about. We are required to combine our pharmacy knowledge among medications with patients’ different health conditions to create the patient-centered care and provide the best outcomes. However, this care trend is in transition now, from professional-orientated to patient-centered.
The person dispensing must also be appropriately trained, follow safe systems of work and understand the side effects of various drugs; be able to access appropriate information and understand when to access advice or further information
The health care industry is an environment that is competitive and expensive. To be a patient receiving care the urgency is high and at a very critical point to trust a team of strangers with your care possibly even your life. On the other side of that coin, treating and interacting with patients is a part of the health care industry because providing care does not end with the physician. In the middle of these two different side of health care is where management steps in and takes over the middle ground.
During the two and a half years of my pharmacy journey, I have been thinking what can a pharmacist do within the healthcare interprofessional team to better help the patients in order to achieve the best health outcome. I work in a clinic as well as inpatient pharmacy, additionally, I had my rotations at CVS and Regions Hospital. all these experiences shape my version of the pharmacists at different settings. Therefore, in various pharmacy settings, pharmacists can work differently with the whole healthcare team. The recent PED-Rx events inspired me how important pharmacists can play roles in when working in a team.
My third and final learning point is why it is important that there is a healthcare team. As I (Ivanova, 2014, b) said in the discussion board: “In order to improve the condition of the patient, it is really important all healthcare professionals work in a team.” This is relevant not only to the pharmacist but to all health care providers, because all of them have the same goal. Working in a team makes achieving that goal easier. Good communication decreases the chances of errors. Collaboration between professionals increases the awareness of each other’s skills and knowledge, which leads to an improvement in the health care service and decision-making. Teams are formed to create respect and trust between healthcare providers and also to prevent misunderstandings. The healthcare team should be centred on the patient and also making him feel better and improving his quality of life. Not having a team may result in serious errors and argues due to lack of communication. This is clearly not the point of the health care service. The interprofessional learning activity enabled us to understand the importance of having a team in healthcare and that coordination between all professionals is required in order to get the best effect from the treatment of the patient.
However it was argued that the roles of Nurse Practitioners specifically in prescribing medications has impacted the Australian Medical Association and stated their concern on expanding these roles. They contended that compared to doctors, nurse practitioners lack the years in education preparation and clinical background to practice their role in prescribing medications. It was later on justified that care and treatment from a nurse practitioner in a primary health care setting is the same to a doctor (Elsom, S., Happell, B., Manias, E., 2009). This validate the importance of every health care professional regardless of whether they can prescribe or not to implement the poison standard and to educate people about the harmful effects when poisons are mishandled and
I also work closely with local pharmacies and doctors around the changing of a person’s medication. It’s important that we work closely together to ensure that the service user is having the correct medication at all times.
Our health care environment is faced with the patient safety issues, shortages on health and human resources, increasingly complex health care needs. Before coming to activity I expect that Interprofesional activity is a way of bringing all the perspectives of different healthcare professionals to improve patient safety. During the activity I found the role of a mental health counselor might treat a patient who has been the victim of domestic abuse, individuals struggling with poor self-esteem, helps individuals and families deal with difficult emotions, in a variety of settings, including schools, hospitals, private offices and clinics, and substance abuse treatment facilities. On the other hand, Pharmacists can play an active role in treating
A physician could make mistakes in prescribing, the pharmacy could send the wrong medication, but who actually gave it to the patient is accountable for the consequences. For this reason, it’s our responsibility to implement change in our practice based on the evidence in order to ensure safe patient care.
According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA 2009), the wrong route of administrating medication accounts for 1.3 million injuries each year. An article published in September issue of the Journal of Patient Safety estimates there are between 210,000 and 400,000 deaths per year associated with medical errors. This makes medical errors the third leading cause of deaths in the United States, behind that comes heart disease and cancer. To prevent medical errors always follow the Three Checks and most importantly the Rights of Medication Administration. The “Rights of Medication Administration” helps to ensure accuracy when administering medication to a patient. When administering medication the administer should ensure they have the Right Medication, Right Patient, Right Dosage, Right Route, Right Time, Right Route, Right Reason, and Right Documentation. Also remember the patient has the right to refuse, assess patient for pain, and always assess the patient for signs of effects.
Right patient, right medication, right dose, right time, right route, right documentation, right reason and response. Being able to follow each right of administration you will ensure the safety of your
As clinical site co-ordinator with many years of clinical experience I feel competent in the drug administration via a variety of routes. Generally the patients I attend have become acutely unwell with most prescriptions not having the third eye of a pharmacist and most drugs being delivered intravenously. It is imperative therefore that the prescription and drugs always be thoroughly checked which relies on good communication throughout. Furthermore, most emergency drugs have a protocol for administration developed by the hospital. However within this situation the nurse is generally the last defence before any medication error actually occurs, therefore it is the nurses responsibility to ensure the prescription is correct and to challenge prescription written
Goal three by the National Patient Safety Goal for 2014 is to use medicines safely. Many errors occur regularly with medications which is why communication is so important with the doctors, nurses and patients. One process that Joint Commission requires in accredited HCO’s is medication reconciliation “creating the most accurate list possible off all medications a patient is taking, including drug name, dosage, frequency, and route, and comparing that list against the physician’s admission, transfer, and/or discharge orders with the goal of providing correct medications to the patients at all transition points within the hospital (Finkelman & Kenner, 2012, p. 388)”. Ensuring medication reconciliation to the patient, health providers and any new consults that are
There are other pharmacy staff who also have roles in relation to the safe dispensing of medicines. A pharmacist is responsible for: Overall checking of a prescription to make sure that it is legal and written by a person qualified to do so, dispensing the right quantity of the correct medicine, ensuring that medicines are correctly labelled with the person’s name, the name of the medicine and the dosage, providing advice and treatment for minor illnesses, injuries and health concerns, providing a repeat prescription service in co-operation with GP