Introduction

Medication administration is a fundamental nursing duty that requires skillful technique and

consideration of the patient's growth, health status, and safety. The central goal of nursing

pharmacology is to enable nurses to provide medications to patients safely and appropriately

using the route best suited for administration. Any substance that is put into the body, alters

biological functions is referred to as a drug or medication. Moreover, the place at which the

medicine is delivered through one of various channels, such as orally, intramuscularly, or

subcutaneously, is often used to classify a medication administration route. Therefore each route

has its own set of contraindications, which are influenced by a variety of parameters such as

pharmacological characteristics and pharmacokinetics. As a result, understanding the features of

various routes and the strategies associated with them is critical in preventing and alleviating

harm to the patient (Ronda G et., al 2020). Furthermore, a nurse administering medications need

to be vigilant and must have a solid understanding of drugs, including drug names, formulations,

and classifications, as well as adverse effects and physiologic factors that influence drug activity.

To safely administer medications, a nurse must know the answers to a range of potential

questions about his or her patients and their medications; who, what, when, how, and why. In

addition, who is the patient receiving the drug, what medication is ordered for the patient, when

is the appropriate time to administer the medication, In what manner the medication would be

administered, and lastly what condition is the medication intended to treat. These are pertinent

guidelines that help prevent medication errors from taking place due to the fact that medication

errors are no small matter in nursing practice. The most common mistake in health care is

medication errors according to the Centers for Disease Control (2021). Medication errors cause
at least one death every day and injure approximately 1.3 million people annually in the United

States of America alone (WHO, 2017). Safe and accurate medication administration is an

important and potentially challenging nursing task. Medication administration requires good

decision-making skills and clinical judgment, and the nurse is responsible for ensuring that all

aspects of medication administration and its implications for patient safety are thoroughly

understood (WHO, 2017).

 References

CDC. (2021). Retrieved

from:https://www.cdc.gov/medicationsafety/adult_adversedrugevents.html

World Health Organization. (2017). Retrieved from: https://www.who.int/news/item/29-03-

2017-who-launches-global-effort-to-halve-medication-related-errors-in-5-years

Ronda G. Hughes; Mary A. Blegen. (2020). Medication Administration safety patient and quality.

Medication Administration safety patient and quality. Retrieved from:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2656/