Your responses should be in a well-developed paragraph (300-350 words) each. Integrating an evidence-based resource that is different than the one you used for the initial post.

Respectfully agree and disagree with your peers’ responses and explain your reasoning by including your rationales in your explanation.

Response 1:

Medication errors can be a result of systemic problems or simply human error. A prescription error can lead to severe physical injury or even death of patients. On the other hand, it can lead to grave psychological, financial, and emotional stress for the organization or health practitioner. In most cases, these mistakes can be prevented. Prescription writing can be a significant cause of such errors. If such an error can be avoided, it will save the health organization a lot. There are different prescription writing sections that physicians have to know how to write and what to look out for. Some of the critical areas in prescription writing include the patient identifier, the medication, strength, and the amount to be taken.

In a prescription, patient identifiers are the first things to write, and the standard identifiers are the full name and date of birth of the patient (Woo, & Robinson, 2020). This ensures that a physician does not write a signed prescription that has no name. The next section is the medication that is being prescribed. In this case, it is not a must to write the brand or generics unless one wants to specify the brand name. After indicating the medicine, one has to write the needed strength, amount, and route that the medication should be taken. Other prescription writing measures include avoiding abbreviations, indicating the age of the patient, and his or her weight (Lexicomp, 2017).

Moreover, nurse practitioners in different states are given varying levels of prescriptive authority. The degree of the nurse practitioner’s prescriptive power significantly varies by the schedule of the medication in question (“Nurse Practitioner Prescriptive Authority,” 2020). Some states allow a considerable degree of prescriptive authority to the NP, and some control this prescriptive authority closely (“State Practice Environment”, 2019).

Response 2:

The purpose of this post is to discuss medication errors and why malpractice insurance is so expensive. According to Walsh et al. (2017), the definition of a medical error is an error that occurs at any point in the medication use process that may involve healthcare professionals such as a physician, pharmacists, and nurses. Nurses in particular are vital in preventing medication errors of patients (Ludin, Ariffin & Ilias. 2019). Another component of medication error is known as preventable adverse drug events (pADEs) which results in patient harm and financial cost (Walsh et al., 2017). A medication error is a healthcare issue that affects patients and healthcare organizations. In fact, medication error causes morbidities and mortality in patients (Walsh et al., 2017). This shows the importance of implementing interventions that reduce medication errors (Walsh et al., 2017). As a result, decreasing medication errors will help to promote the quality of care in healthcare (Walsh et al., 2017).

Medication errors highly occur in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) (Ludin, Ariffin & Ilias. 2019). Approximately 1.7 medication errors occur in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) (Ludin, Ariffin & Ilias. 2019). This is due to the complexity of the ICU setting and patient (Ludin, Ariffin & Ilias. 2019). A cross-sectional study conducted in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) highlighted that unclear verbal order, look-alike sound-alike drugs, and insufficient training (Ludin, Ariffin & Ilias. 2019). These factors are a few of the reasons why medical malpractice insurance is expensive (Kahn & Baum. 2020). Medical malpractice insurance is a part of the largest expense that a healthcare provider encounters (Kahn & Baum. 2020).

Written prescription: 

Patient name: John Doe

Patient Date of Birth: 9.3.1955

Colace 100 mg 1 tab PO QHS

Dispense: # 30 (thirty)

Refills: 0

Signature: Jane Victor, FNP

Date: 9.1.2020