Many people assume the role of their medication responsibility to their health care providers, while it is a combined duty of the patient as well (The Joint Commission,2016). In avoiding medication errors in healthcare The Joint Commission has created guidelines to further educate the importance of understanding one’s medications. Patients are given understanding on how to avoid mistakes while in the hospital, at the pharmacist and working with physicians. This paper will discuss The Joint Commissions brochure on “Help avoid mistakes with your medicines” summarizing their guidelines and if the brochure was effective for patients.
Summary of Brochure
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The wording of the questions was appropriately worded in a way that patients would comprehend the questions. I thought that use of examples would have been useful to better provide constructive understanding of patient responsibilities. Medication errors interests me since this has been an occurring problem since the start of healthcare. This problem affects me as a future nurse, and it provides insight that patients can hold responsibility in this issue as well. The information provided was useful for both the patient and the caregiver. It created a safety net for those to understand the importance for taking self-responsibility of their own health while providing questions the patient can ask. This would be ideal when teaching a patient about what questions can be appropriate to ask when obtaining new medications. Patients do not think of themselves as being responsible for their own healthcare needs. While no single intervention strategy can improve the adherence of all patients, decades of research shows that that successful attempts to make improve patient adherence depends on the fact of many key factors (Martin, Williams and Haskard-Zolnierek, 2010). Many times this is thought as the job of the caregiver. What that in mind this brochure can be made for any adult receiving medications. It would not be ideal for a pediatric patient but could be used for the patients …show more content…
There is not one population that would benefit since a majority of patients feel the need to put responsibility on the caregiver. Patients many times leave out allergies, concern and other questions with fear they are wrong. This brochure covered five areas allowing patients at risk to feel comfortable in asking questions. Not only were example questions outlined, it created key points for the patient to observe during their care. The practice avoiding medication errors can now be gradually increased with the partnership of patient and caregiver. Shared responsibility can create better relationships in creating can understanding of patients own care without relying on that of the caregiver. Creating lists of medications, talking about reactions and understanding instructions are just some of the topics that will ensure patient safety (The Joint Commission,