THE ROLE OF FRONTLINE HEALTHCARE TEAMS IN PREVENTING MEDICATION AND RESPIRATORY CARE ERRORS IN HOSPITAL SETTINGS
Keywords:
Frontline healthcare teams; patient safety; medication errors; respiratory care errors; interdisciplinary collaboration; hospital settings; nursing practice; pharmacy services; respiratory therapy; quality improvementAbstract
It is well established that interdisciplinary teams are essential to improving the safety of medication and respiratory interventions at the frontline of care within hospital systems (Alhur et al., 2024). The role of the interprofessional medical team in minimizing medication errors has been a topic of discussion and research; however, contemporary scholarship holds that further attention is warranted concerning the involvement of healthcare professionals in multidisciplinary teams—beyond the physician-nurse continuum—in preventing errors in these two critical functional domains.
Healthcare systems have increased focus on medication and respiratory care safety issues because of their significant role in preventable adverse events. Medication errors constitute the most prevalent form of in-hospital mishap. Errors associated with inhalation therapy, nebulization or oxygen therapy, and ventilatory support of respiratory therapy also rank among the highest for patient safety risk and concern (Bethishou et al., 2017). On the patient side, medication and respiratory-care errors can inflict serious harm. Such events have been linked to extended lengths of stay, room transfers, and additional medical treatment that impairs overall quality of care. Cost burden is another major, yet frequently underestimated, consequence of these errors associated with the common protocols of ordered medication and respiratory interventions.
