Essay Sample on Anesthesiology Errors: Unveiling Mistakes and Safeguarding Patient Safety

Introduction

In the United States, medical errors are all but a typical occurrence. Specifically, errors related to anesthesia mismanagement during surgical procedures can result in permanent consequences or even death to patients. Annually, these medical errors cost an average of $21 billion, since almost every anesthesia-related mistake leads to lawsuits (Wolfe et al., 2017). The breakthrough in administering anesthesia to patients to reduce pain is one of the most important medical advancements ever made. In the United States alone, over 40 million anesthesia procedures are conducted each year (Wolfe et al., 20170. However, like other medical procedures, there is always a potential for error when using or administering anesthesia.

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Common Mistakes in Anesthesiology

In a country that has become more reliant on medical advancements, mistakes that come with them have become a common analogy. Some of the common anesthesiology mistakes that happen in the United States include the following.

Documentation Errors

One of the typical mistakes committed in anaesthesiology is because of wrong documentation. However, these documentation mistakes cause more billing issues that affect the safety of the patient. Though documentation errors affect the billing system more than the patients' safety, health facilities require efficiency in all organization departments. Persons administering the anaesthesiology follow documents passed to them by doctors and nurses if the form's filing to be given to the anaesthesiology prescriber is wrong. The wrong prescription is administered to the patient, which can be detrimental to a patient's health. Hospitals must put in measures that ensure anesthetic documentation is done professionally to prevent documentation mistakes in anesthesiology. A solution to wrongful documentation at any stage, hospitals need to computerize medical communications and documents from the start to the end. The solution can help identify problems quickly, and in other cases, information, as prescribed, can be done directly by doctors and nurses as they complete their section with patients.

Medication Dosing Mistakes

Dose administration errors involving anesthesia are common in hospitals around the country, and they often occur during an anesthetic procedure. The mistakes can be due to wrongful prescription pre-documentation, which is not the anaesthesiology call. Another cause could be inexperienced anesthesiologists and those who are not familiar with devices and anesthetic equipment (Wolfe et al., 2017). Carelessness, inattention, and haste among anesthesiologists is also common cause of dosing errors.

Other medication errors that often occur include administering drugs that have negative impacts on patients. For example, some antibiotics prescribed could cause patient allergic reactions. According to Wheeler & Wheeler (2005), research done in the United States showed that the most common drugs involved in medication errors include potassium chloride, heparin, lidocaine, and epinephrine. Most of these drugs wrongfully administered have fatal consequences. If intrathecal vincristine drug is injected into cancer patients during chemotherapy instead of methotrexate, devastating fatalities are registered with incredibly depressing regular episodes (Wheeler & Wheeler 2005). It is evident from the above drug reactions some drugs have fatal consequences, unlike others. Often, some medication errors can be detected immediately and reported, and a solution is offered; however, others go undetected slowly, affecting the patient’s health later with fatal consequences.

Unsuccessful Postoperative Pain Management

Anesthesiologists have developed ideas for preoperatively managing pain. Medical professionals handling patients must find a balance between reducing opioid-related effects and controlling pain postoperatively (Dhawan et al., 2017). Poor timing in anesthesia administration can lead to increased nausea, vomiting, or long-lasting regional pain disorder.

To minimize the potential consequences of anesthesia and enhance patient safety and satisfaction, hospitals in the United States are moving away from digital patient-controlled anesthesia to regional anesthesia.

IV Control Mistakes

Poor regulation of the flow of intravenous fluids can cause severe difficulties for patients. When administering anesthesia, it is crucial to accurately set the intravenous fluid flow rate (Dhawan et al., 2017). Mostly, anesthetic fluid overloads cause headaches, anxiety, breathing problems, or high blood pressure for patients. A low fluid rate, on the other hand, can prevent the required reactions from the drug. The use of Luer-activated valves to replace stopcock manipulation systems can minimize the potential risk of overload during anesthesia administration (Dhawan et al., 2017). These valves also reduce the possibility of medication errors that result from drug interactions.

Conclusion

The healthcare system in the United States has turned out to be a double-edged sword that swallows as much as it saves. Outstanding medical advancements that have been made in medicine, such as the use of anesthesia during surgical procedures, are still marred with medical mistakes. These mistakes put a considerable risk to a patient's safety, where some lead to the annulment of these advancements. To effectively minimize mistakes in anaesthesiology, time and research must be spent on pain management policies and training. A wide range of errors occurs during anesthesiology. It could be the prescriber error, lack of communication, poor decimation of patient files, wrong formulation of patient drugs, or patients themselves. Anaesthesiol errors have hefty blows, and the medical industry is indebted to keep patients safe from any medical errors in whichever stage of medication. Carelessness, lack of education, and evil intentions toward patients should be highly discouraged to avoid fatal mistakes.

References

Dhawan, I., Tewari, A., Sehgal, S., & Sinha, A. C. (2017). Medication errors in anesthesia: unacceptable or unavoidable? Revista Brasileira de anestesiologia, 67(2), 184-192. https://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0034-70942017000200184&script=sci_arttext

Wolfe, A., Nguyen, A., Galles, A., Wolfe, M., & Lundberg, B. (2017). Anaesthesia Error in the United States: Reasons for Mismanagement. http://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=coph_pres

Wheeler, S. J., & Wheeler, D. W. (2005). Medication errors in anesthesia and critical care. Anaesthesia, 60(3), 257-273. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/8023173_Medication_errors_in_anaesthesia