Medical reports vary considerably on how frequently medication errors occur in nursing homes. Some reports claim that 800,000 adverse effects occur annually due to the incorrect use of medications. Medical reporting is encouraged to reduce errors and improve patient care in Missouri.
The prevalence of medication errors
Reporting and reducing medication errors should be a top priority for nurses. However, current medical reporting systems are not designed to capture all medication errors. Some errors are even deliberate acts of medical malpractice and are not being properly investigated.
The impact of nursing home negligence
According to the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society report, medication errors that occur in nursing homes are vastly underreported. Nursing home negligence is being investigated particularly because of the vulnerability of the residents. Medication errors are estimated to occur in 16-31% of all patients.
The study adds that the adverse effects related to the incorrect administration of medications are low with 1% of medication errors leading to accidental deaths. Whether medication errors lead to worsened health conditions is yet to be determined in further studies. In the meantime, nursing home workers are encouraged to take proper care of their patients and stop all preventable deaths.
Preventing future medical incidents
The average nursing home resident consumes several pills every week or even every day, making this population particularly vulnerable to errors when it comes to medication. An adverse drug reaction could result in incomplete or inaccurate information being reported to a health care agency. Nursing home residents and workers need to be informed of the dangers of drug misuse and the methods that help protect patients from errors.