Significant Medication Error Due to Misinterpretation of Orders
Summary
The facility failed to prevent a significant medication error involving a resident who was prescribed hydrocortisone for adrenal insufficiency. The resident missed a dose, received the wrong dose for two days, and then the medication was abruptly stopped. This error occurred because the Unit Manager misinterpreted the hospital discharge orders and transcribed them incorrectly, believing the medication was to be given for only three days. The Unit Manager did not seek clarification from the hospital, the endocrinologist, or other medical professionals, and the error went unnoticed by other staff members who reviewed the orders. The resident, who had a history of adrenal insufficiency, diabetes, malnutrition, and other health issues, went 18 days without receiving hydrocortisone. This led to a significant drop in cortisol levels, resulting in weakness and low blood pressure. The resident was eventually transferred to the hospital at the family's request, where she was admitted for these symptoms. Despite the endocrinologist's intervention to correct the medication error, the resident's condition worsened, leading to a surgical procedure and subsequent complications. Interviews with various staff members, including the Unit Managers, Nurse Practitioners, and the Physician, revealed a lack of communication and verification of the medication orders. The pharmacist's review did not identify any irregularities, and the physician did not review the transcribed orders in the electronic documentation system. The failure to administer hydrocortisone as prescribed was identified as a significant medication error, contributing to the resident's deteriorating health condition.
Removal Plan
- The facility recognizes that all newly admitted and readmitted residents have the potential to be affected from the prior noncompliance with significant medication errors. All newly admitted and readmitted residents' medication orders were audited by the Director of Nursing and or Unit Managers to ensure orders were transcribed correctly. 30 residents were audited with no discrepancies noted.
- A quality review was completed by the Director of Nursing and or Unit Manager of current residents with a diagnosis of adrenal insufficiency and with hydrocortisone orders to ensure medication is ordered, transcribed correctly, and being given as ordered, no discrepancies noted.
- A quality review of current residents admitted and readmitted within the past 30 days was conducted by the Director of Nursing and Unit Manager to ensure all other newly admitted or readmitted patients' medications are administered per physician orders and transcribed correctly on the Medication Admission Record (MAR).
- A Root Cause Analysis was completed by the Director of Clinical Services, and the Executive Director regarding omission of medication administration for resident #137. It was determined through root cause and analysis that the significant medication error was due to the oversight of transcribing the orders incorrectly and there was no verification conducted by a second nurse.
- The Director of Nursing and/or the nurse managers provided education to current nurses on the importance of transcribing all new orders from discharge summaries, verified by 2 nurses to ensure medications are transcribed and administered per physician orders to the residents. Newly hired nurses will be educated on hire during the orientation process.
- The Executive Director provides oversight for the education of nurses to ensure that 100% of all licensed staff were reeducated on the importance of administrating all ordered medications. Education was completed.
- The Director of Nursing and or Nurse Managers will conduct Quality Improvement Monitoring 5 times per week for 4 weeks, 1 time per week for 3 months and 1 time monthly for 3 months in clinical morning meeting to review the medication administration records of all new residents when admitted or readmitted to ensure all medications are transcribed correctly and medications are administered as ordered per physician.
- Upon receiving hospital discharge summaries medication orders are verified with the provider, 2 nurse verification system; 1 Nurse transcribes all orders, then 1 Nurse verifies/confirms that orders were transcribed correctly. They also review the previous days admissions during the morning meeting and verify during the meeting.
- When the deficient practice of transcribing orders that resulted in a significant medication error was identified the center Executive Director conducted an ADHOC Quality Assurance Performance Improvement (QAPI) meeting to determine the root cause analysis of the deficient practice.
- The QAPI committee put a plan of action in place to include quality improvement monitoring and the frequency of monitoring to ensure medication administration orders were transcribed correctly and medications were administered as ordered.
- The results of the quality monitoring will be brought to the Quality Assurance Performance Improvement meeting monthly to ensure ongoing compliance for 4 months. Quality Improvement schedule will be modified based on findings of the monitoring.
Penalty
Resources
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