Medication Safety Quality Measures
The three leading sources of medication
errors are communication, training, and patient assessment, according to the
Joint
Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).
Some
hospitalized persons, such as infants and the critically ill, cannot speak
for themselves and may not have anyone available to speak for them, making
identification and communication difficult.
Using two or more methods to identify
the right patient during medication administration is, therefore, necessary
as a check point in the process of medication delivery.
In addition, the other four of the five "Rights"
of medication administration should always be double checked. These include:
- right medication
- right dose
- right time
- right route (oral, injected, intravenous (IV), topical/skin,
or through another route)
The process for medication administration is complex, and
risk for error increases with each additional medication that is delivered
when fail-safe processes and training are not implemented.
Two standard fail-safe methods for identifying the "right
patient" are:
- checking the patient's armband to ensure that it matches the medication
administration record
- asking the
patient or family member for verification
At
St. Mary's Hospital Medical Center, standard methods of patient identification are used during
medication administration.