Medications Level 2 (VTQ)™
Course Content
- Introduction
- Legislation, Regulation and Policies
- Medications
- Classification of Medications
- POM and Controlled Medications - Pharmacist
- Types of Medications and Routes of Entry
- Medication Brand Names - Pharmacist
- Covert Medications
- Precautions and side effects
- Prescribing and Prescriptions
- Recording Information
- Storing Medication Safely
- Storage of Medications - Pharmacist
- Safe Disposal of Medication
- Disposing of Unwanted Medications - Pharmacist
- Medication expiry dates - Pharmacist
- Analgesics
- Administration of Medications
- Discussing Medication
- Summary
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Medication Error Reporting
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So within the medication process, there is different levels of errors which can occur, which can have different ramifications for the member of staff that would be making the errors. Especially now that, because of CQC going in to inspect care homes, hospitals all over the different sectors. There are issues around is there safeguardings going on? Especially if someone gives the wrong medication to the wrong person, they can complete the wrong time, they have given too much and they have overdosed somebody or they have underdosed somebody. There is also medication used which is used as a PRN which is used as and when required. That can be overly be used/administered to somebody just to keep them at a very comatosed, calm level where it has been used inappropriately, so that would be an error in medication. So within the administration process, we would start off with the sort of stuff where staff drops a tablet, that would be a medication error because now we have got to go down the process of re-ordering an additional tablet, if a member of staff fails to sign that they have administered the medication, there are ways around that. If they haven't gone off shift and a member of staff comes, and we can do an audit trail and we count the medications as a handover, and we know the medication has been given, it has just been forgotten to be signed for, we can rectify that quite quickly. But if the person has left the service; gone off shift, we are in a position where we can actually call it a medication error. Now this would go down on an incident/accident report just so the organisation would be able to keep track of how many errors are actually occurring and it is something CQC are actually hot on. They want to know how many errors occur. These would be on the smaller end where failure to sign and dropping a tablet may mean that a member of staff may just have to have a competency test again where a senior member of staff who can administer medication just observes their practice just to see why they made that mistake. So it is very easy to rectify quite quickly and just another competency would be addressed. Whereas we start getting onto the more serious types of errors where someone may give medication that is prescribed for the person, but they give it to them at the wrong time, it just could be that they just popped the wrong blister pack for whatever reason may occur. So that would be classed as a full medication error and that would be contacting potentially the doctor just to see what stuff that has to be implemented, which may just be an observation of the individual - it may actually be them having to go to hospital. So we are increasing the level. It also could be that the person has given the wrong medication to the wrong person. This is normally a massive human error because staff should only be giving medication to one person at a time, and it should clearly state the person's name on it. They should make sure that they have done their checks properly, they would go with what is on the MAR Sheet to what is in the blister pack to knowing the person. All people should have a photograph next to who's medication it is so we know we can recognise that person - even if you have known that person for years, you still need to double-check all of these points. Because medication errors are being taken very, very seriously. Giving the wrong medication to the wrong person is a huge, huge error because the ramifications are the person could have an allergic reaction, it could cause them major issues and major problems, so that would be straight away, either hospitalisation by calling the Emergency Services by getting an ambulance out, on-call may be needed to be required to be spoken to. Maybe kicking it up the management chain... When these errors are occuring, and because there may be a safeguarding issue, it has to be investigated for the procedures but then also a member of staff will be completely stopped administering medication, they may have to go on medication training again, they may have to go down the competencies route, and there may even be a warning put on their file to say that this is a major medication error, it is a safeguarding issue and, you know, that it could be left on their file in case any ever occurs again. So with errors, it is very important that people should not try and cover them up, because again, if someone has had the wrong tablets, it could have massive ramifications for that person and for that member of staff. But always covering it up, it actually always comes out eventually, especially if you are signing for someone else, because people know how their signature looks and how their initials look. It is best not to, so if you make a mistake/make an error, be up front about it, be honest with it, report it to line management so then we can take a proper course of action to deal with that situation and that problem. We are all human, but when we are giving medication we should really be focussed on administering the medication so we tend not to make errors. It is all we are focussed on - people shouldn't disturb us. In some organisations, they wear a high-vis jacket and it says DO NOT DISTURB, because that person is then solely focussed on medication, because again, it is a serious part of the job that we do and it has huge implications if we get it wrong. So it is better to take all of the proper steps so that errors don't occur.
Understanding Medication Errors in Healthcare
Types and Ramifications of Medication Errors
Overview: Different levels of errors and their implications for healthcare staff.
Within the medication process, errors can vary in severity and impact. Regulatory bodies like the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspect care homes and hospitals to ensure adherence to standards.
Types of Medication Errors:
- Administering the wrong medication to a person.
- Administering medication at the wrong time.
- Administering an incorrect dosage (too much or too little).
- Overdosing or underdosing a patient.
- Inappropriate use of PRN (as needed) medication, leading to misuse.
Errors involving PRN medication, intended for occasional use, can particularly impact patient well-being if misused to induce excessive sedation.