National Patient Safety Goal – Medication Safety Introduction This National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) focuses on the risks of medication reconciliation. The performance elements of this NPSG are designed to help organizations reduce adverse patient outcomes associated with medication discrepancies. National. The National. The National. 2024). The. Medication errors are the leading cause of avoidable injury and harm to patients. This happens most often when nurses do not follow protocols. These errors can also result in increased healthcare costs. Reduction of …show more content…
According to the Joint Commission, medication reconciliation compares a patient's medication orders to all the medications the patient has been taking. This reconciliation is done to avoid medication errors such as omissions, duplications, dosing errors, or drug interactions. It should be done at every transition of care in which new medications are ordered, or existing orders are rewritten. Transitions in care include changes in setting, service, practitioner, or level of care. This process comprises five steps: develop a list of current medications; develop a list of medications to be prescribed; compare the medications on the two lists; make clinical decisions based on the comparison; and communicate the new list to appropriate caregivers and the patient. National. The National. The National. 2024). The. In our facility, when administering medication, we check the armband and ask for the patient's name and date of birth after the matching is correct. All medication lists are double-checked, and medication is scanned. Also, we check the right dosage, route, time, medication, and person. The facility maximizes the use of barcode verification before medication. In the middle of the day, the charge nurse picks one or two patients for each nurse. The charge nurse rounds the whole unit and asks questions about patient care and medication with their nurse. Hospitals and health systems should focus their medication safety efforts on the full document, frequently asked questions and an implementation worksheet that helps the unit identify gaps in implementing the best practices and develop an action plan to address vulnerabilities. I recommend one more medication safe: whenever a nurse administers a medication, look at why the patient takes that medication, which is more straightforward and more knowledgeable about the patient. For medication safety, have another