Answer To: University of SalfordAssessment Brief 2021/2022Module Title:Leading Change for Patient/Service...
Sayani answered on Dec 02 2021
Running Head: MEDICATION MANAGEMENT UPDATE FOR NURSES IN NIGERIA 1
MEDICATION MANAGEMENT UPDATE FOR NURSES IN NIGERIA 2
MEDICATION MANAGEMENT UPDATE FOR NURSES IN NIGERIA
Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Identification of the Drivers to Improve the Medication Management 3
Role of the Nurse to Improve Medication Management 5
Drivers to Bring Significant Improvement in Services in Healthcare 7
Importance of Change Management in Healthcare 8
Service Improvement Methodologies 10
Planning to Empower the Key Stakeholders 11
Conclusion 12
Critical Commentary 13
References 17
Introduction
Medication management is the level of outpatient treatment that involves the initial evaluation of patient’s need for psychotropic medication. It also includes the provision of the prescription as well as the ongoing medical monitoring related to patient’s use of psychotropic medication. Medication administration is needed for each nurse to handle the patients by understanding their case studies and educate their families.
Good medicine management is an integral part of most nursing and midwifery practice and includes the administration of medicines and supporting people to take their medicines correctly. As the healthcare field is an important area where after treatment understanding the medication part becomes very essential for the patient to further continue their care and recovery.
In this regard, nurses play an important role to upgrade the patient with proper medication as well as update themselves with the changing healthcare system (Eggerth, Hayn & Schreier, 2020). This essay would focus on the factors that are required to improve the service quality in healthcare sector especially in the medication management perspective, the change management and service improvement methodologies, empowerment of the key stakeholders and finally concluding with a critical commentary.
Identification of the Drivers to Improve the Medication Management
Medication management is the process of overseeing the medication prescribed by any physicians for any patient in order to check that whether the patient had clearly understood the timing of the medication, ensuring that whether they have taken it properly or not, achieving their plan and therapeutic outcomes (Maidment et al., 2020). Hence, medication management is an important aspect for any healthcare staff specially the nurses who plays the leading role in this regard to describe the entire medication procedures to the patient as well as the patient families.
The key factors, which help to improve the service and quality improvement for any healthcare organisation are that before prescribing the medicines, nurses should undergo certain information regarding the medicines with its components, expiry dates and other important details. This is important because the patients do not have much knowledge regarding these matters and it is the role of the nurse to guide them with suitable information. Hence, in order to improve the service quality in medication aspects, nurse should have sufficient knowledge regarding these medicines (Larkin Lamarche & Mangin, 2018).
Second is implementing the medicine safety technologies in order to ensure the patient’s health safety and security as well as wellbeing factors. In this regard, computerised order entry, medication safety alerts and patients barcoding, smart infusions, pumps for intravenous administration, single use medications packages and many more can be used by the healthcare staffs specially the nurses to avoid complications and improve the service quality as well (Ayorinde & Alabi, 2019).
Thirdly, educating and training appropriately the patients along with their families is also an important driver to improve the service quality. Patients and caregivers administering medications at home make up a large number of medication errors (Ayodapo, Elegbede, Omosanya & Monsudi, 2020). Through effective communication and improved verbal gestures, nurses can acquire trusts and strengthen the relationship with the patient and in this way; they can even improve the service as well.
Fourthly, implementing the strategies for LASA drugs, which is look alike or sound alike and these medicines often are confused by several healthcare staffs, as they look same and sound the same. When names, packaging, administration, date of manufacturing and other related items remains similar then, it becomes very difficult to choose the appropriate one. Hence, in this regard, in order to avoid the errors nurses can use several strategies, which include using tall man lettering, which helps to distinguish several drugs names, adding warning labels in order aware as well as stay alert for the certain LASA medicines and educating the patients how to check these types of confusing medicines.
Lastly, taking extra precautions with high alert medications as if not being used properly, it might affect the patient badly. Hence, in this regard, the medicines should be checked properly before being prescribed to the patients as they are not so educated in this field and so it is the responsibility of the nurses and the healthcare staffs to take care of these facts and train them in such a way that patients face no such difficulties in these areas.
Role of the Nurse to Improve Medication Management
Nurses play a crucial and the most vital role in medication management procedure. They have the unique opportunity to support adequate medication management and aid in identifying the potential effects of changes in the medication regimen on symptoms on time and recognise the shift on goals of care to a palliative approach. Hence, nurses play an important role not only to educate the patient and understand their psychologies but also to use clinical judgement in order to assess if medicines should be administered or withheld in the view of the consumer’s clinical status.
Nurses are responsible in prescribing the prescription accurately to the patient so that they can take care further to recover themselves. In this regard, nurses do play an important role and they go like this, firstly, checking every detail of the medicines and then only prescribing them to the patients. The patients might not be knowing the exact order of the medicine, when to have that, how to have that and what would be the exact dose of the medicine.
Secondly, nurses solve each query of the patients and explain them the exact procedures so that it becomes easier to understand each instruction and follow them accordingly. Thirdly, after physical intervention of the patient by the physician, it is the responsibility of the nurses to intervene the patient once again. It is needed in order to explain them the exact dose of the medicine and educate them the importance of the specific drugs that is being prescribed by the physician to treat the particular diseases.
Fourthly, nurses play a critical role in preventing the medication errors and improve the quality of medication management. They critically understand the patient’s psychology and accordingly guide them with appropriate medicines. In order to perform the interaction session, they need to develop their communication system as well as improve their gestures as per the demand and expectation of the patients.
Furthermore, in order to standardise their service, the nurses should update themselves with the changing healthcare technologies and trained themselves with the trend and latest knowledge. Next, upgraded qualification along with knowledge is a vital thing needed for the nurse to overcome any difficulties. For example, in this pandemic out of COVID-19, various new methods and techniques is being adopted by the researchers to undergo the various examination test to check whether positive or negative or being affected by the viruses (Wegbom, Edet, Raimi, Fagbamigbe & Kiri, 2021).
The test was mainly performed by the nurses and they hence, had to learn how with the help of digital technologies various tests were conducted and how certificates of the test were generated. It is their responsibility to explain the medication procedures after delivering the test reports. Next, in order to ensure effective drug administration, the nurses are encouraged to perform the five famous R’s that is the right patient, right drug, right route, right time and right dose, in order to prevent errors or flaws in medication management.
After ensuring the case history of the patient and understanding what treatment is needed, the nurses should understand the right drugs and then guide them towards the right route. After guiding them towards the right route, nurses should explain the right time to take the medicine along with the appropriate dose.
Drivers to Bring Significant Improvement in Services in Healthcare
Quality improvement is about providing the clients closest to issues affecting the care quality are quality the time, permission, skills and resources they need to solve them. It involves a systematic as well as the coordinated approach to solving a problem using specific methods and tools with the aim of bringing about a measurable improvement (Akachi & Kruk, 2017).
An understanding of quality improvement is therefore important for anyone who delivers or manages care, as well as for people using care services and wondering how they could be improved. Through quality improvement there is the potential to create a health care service capable of ensuring ‘no...