Annotated Bibliography 2

Gaffney, T., Hatcher, B., Milligan, R., & Trickey, A. (2016). Enhancing patient safety: Factors influencing medical error recovery among medical-surgical nurses. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 21(3), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.3912/OJIN.Vol21No03Man06

This research study focuses on a new medical phenomenon called ‘error recovery’ and how it may possibly enhance the safety of patients. Established within the premise of the medical-surgical nurses’ role in an effective error recovery among patients, this study was able to highlight and put emphasis on the core duty of nurses, which is to keep their patients safe. In this research, the authors conducted a descriptive (cross-sectional) and correlational study in order to assess the link between the recovered medical errors and the individual characteristics of nurses (e.g., age, education, personality, experience, certification, etc.). Based on the study’s key findings, the medical-surgical nurses error recovery is positively correlated with their expertise and education. This study is a very useful resource as it provides a comprehensive background information with regard to ‘error recovery’ as a new healthcare concept that may be used in enhancing patient safety.  Moreover, this research may be used as a reference in exploring possible solutions to medication errors in the clinical setting.

Roughead, E., Semple, S., & Rosenfeld, E. (2016). The extent of medication errors and adverse drug reactions throughout the patient journey in acute care in Australia. International Journal of Evidence-Based Healthcare, 14(3), 113-122. https://doi.org/10.1097/XEB.0000000000000075

            This research study centers on the aim of providing an estimated number of adverse drug reactions and medication errors that occurred throughout a patient’s admission to hospitals in Australia. To achieve this research aim, the authors gathered literature reviews that tackled the topic on medication safety in the Australian context. The goal was to synthesize these published evidences in order to gather adequate evidences on the rate of medication-related errors and problems related to medication safety in Australia’s acute care settings. The research findings showed that there is a current rate of two (2) errors for every (3) patients during their admission to hospitals in Australia. Prescription error and medication administration errors were also identified to be the most common forms of medication-related errors in the Australian hospital system. Based on the nature of the study, this research could be a valuable reference in exploring the topic on medication safety and methods of addressing or preventing medication errors within hospitals.