“One-third of all medication errors causing harm to hospitalized patients occur in the medication preparation and administration phase… (Smeulers, Verweij, Maaskant, Boer, Krediet, Nieveen van Dijkum & Vermeulen, 2015). Even though medication administration safety measures have been applied as healthcare continues to grow, there are still errors made. Safety measures have been implemented over the years in attempt to be thoroughly safe as one can be. However, administration of medications is still a target point for health care errors, as the nurse still must critically think before administering a medication to a patient. Using the Donabedian Model, structure is the first level to be examined to seek improvement in medication administration safety. Some examples of the structure level are facility, equipment, and staff and their qualifications (Shi & Singh, 2015). When discussing medication …show more content…
A misread prescription, dosage mistake, or improper labeling from the pharmacy on medications is examples of ways that an error can occur if it is not double checked. It is the nurse’s job before administering the medication to check the medication, ensuring the order is correct and it is given to the correct patient.
Another structure to analyze would be the staff and their qualifications. Making sure that staff is properly trained and certified for job descriptions, as well as adequate staff to patient ratios. This structure is important to implement for patient safety and satisfaction.
The second domain is process. Process is the action step of the structure leading to the outcome. The process of safe medication administration can be related to cost; correct medications; as well as communication (Shi & Singh, 2015). Medication errors are a costly but preventable error. Additional treatments may be necessary to rectify a medication mistake, causing extra costs at the facilities