Evidence-Based and Best-Practice Solutions to Improve Patient Safety with a Focus on Medication Administration and Reducing Costs

The quality and safety of patient care as well as the costs of care, can be improved within healthcare settings by improving the safety of medication administration. Quality improvement initiatives aimed at reducing and preventing the occurrence of medication errors during the administration stage should focus on improving the entire medication process. Various evidence-based and best practices solutions can help improve patient safety and reduce care costs by improving the safety of medication administration. For instance, a study by Alrabadi et al. (2021) focused on improving nursing practice as a major approach to reducing medication errors throughout the treatment process. Alrabadi et al. (2021) found that strategies such as educating and training nurses and establishing standardized medication administration procedures reduced errors throughout the medication process. Additionally, the use of double checking the medications against the physician’s medication orders before the administration can help reduce the occurrence of medication errors with an impact on patient safety. Talking and informing the patient about the type of medications they are being administered with and establishing an environment of open communication between the patient, the healthcare professional, and within the interdisciplinary care team can also help reduce the occurrence of medication errors (Alrabadi et al., 2021). Other evidence-based and best practices to improve the quality and safety of medication administration include improving the clarity and quality of the drug labeling and packaging, reducing distractions within the medication administration environment, and following the guidelines for drug administration, including the time, site, and method of medication administration.