3.0 Medication Safety — Preventing Medication Errors V2
Learning Outcomes
- Identify factors that contribute to a holistic approach to medication administration, including social determinants of health, cultural safety, and health literacy.
- Explain client-centred care and cultural safety during medication administration.
- Understand the types of medication errors and strategies for prevention.
- Articulate the factors that affect medication safety, including healthcare providers, systems, and client factors.
- Understand medication safety for pediatric clients.
- Understand medication safety for older adult clients, including polypharmacy and prescription cascades.
- Understand strategies to promote safe medication administration, including Beers criteria and deprescribing initiatives.
In this chapter, we will explore medication safety by considering factors that contribute to a holistic approach to pharmacotherapy and examine lifespan considerations such as factors that can put both pediatric and the older adult at risk for medication errors. Lastly, we will focus on strategies to reduce med errors, including using tools such as the Beers criteria, deprescribing initiatives, and nursing interventions.
