Akeau Unahalekhaka
Chiang Mai University, Thailand
Title: Effective prevention of medication errors to promote patient safety
Biography
Biography: Akeau Unahalekhaka
Abstract
Patients have two main risks when they are hospitalized-infectious and non-infectious risks. Infectious risks are healthcare-associated infections and non-infectious risks are medical errors. Both risks can cause serious consequences to the patients and their families from longer hospital stay, higher costs of treatment, disability to death. Medication error is an important medical error. Protection of the patients from medication errors need high alert, strong intention, sustain collaboration and implementation among multidisciplinary hospital personnel. In order to effectively protect the patients from medication errors, hospital personnel should recognize the magnitude and severity of the problems which need good surveillance and reporting system, aware of the consequences, impacts and burdens from the incidents, understand causes and risk factors of medication errors. This information is very useful to determine effective and practical preventive measures. Attitude of hospital personnel is important in reporting medication errors to recognize the real situation. It is necessary to encourage hospital personnel to identify and promptly report any errors that have been occurred. Significant gains cannot be accomplished without organizational policies and procedures. Besides, implementation of preventive measures to obtain good sustainable outcomes, healthcare facilities have to identify barriers which can impact the outcomes of the intervention. Prevention of medication errors can be achieved by collaborative quality improvement, establishing medication safety and reporting system, monitoring practices and feedback the incidents to personnel.