Busy days and increased workloads can put any individual at greater risk of making errors. In a healthcare setting, the increasing workload of nurses or doctors can lead them to make errors when administering medications. These sometimes may not cause any adverse effects on the client, while on the other hand they may also cause problems to the clients which may even lead to their death. Lack of sleep, stress, and poor nutrition are also some of the factors that contribute to medication errors. It's a sign that your brain needs the rest it needs, and it's the body's natural way of telling you that you need rest. People also often misunderstand acronyms or abbreviated forms used for medications. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay In an article published in August 2018, the acronym SWFI which originally stands for Sterile Water for Injection was misinterpreted to mean Sterile Water for Irrigation by the practitioner. The reconstituted solution was diluted again in a minibag containing saline administered to the client. Although the patient was not harmed, the incident was reported to the ISMP. It has also been reported that there have been cases where this acronym (SWFI) has also been mistaken for salt water injection. The doctor used a 0.9% sodium chloride injectable solution and reconstituted a medication that had instead required sterile water. This was a serious mistake that led the patient to further complications. The human factor of error contributed to this case because it was the different ways an acronym was used. This also happened due to lack of knowledge because there should be a standardized way of using SWFI and professionals should also know what should be done. And if there is a case where you are not sure, you should always use the privilege of asking your colleagues. Cognitive errors can also contribute to medication errors. Individuals may read the dosage incorrectly and administer the medication to the client via the incorrect medication or via the incorrect route or sometimes even both. In a case study conducted by the authors of the book: Standard Nursing (2014), they discuss an error made with the administration of morphine that led to the death of a client. Morphine 25 mg was administered subcutaneously instead of 2.5 mg. The nurse said she misread the vial dosage and administered a higher dose. This example also shows that, as nurses, we need to recognize if the dosage we give is incorrect and make sure to double-check it. If we still think this is an overdose, we need to ask a colleague and question the order. Based on the article The Impact of Abbreviations on Patient Safety, they show us the different ways medication errors could occur as we write it. One of them is the abbreviation for International Units (IU). Studies have shown that individuals in healthcare confuse IU with IV (intravenous) or even the number 10. Another common mistake they pointed out is trailing zeros after the value or lack of a leading zero. Often decimals are omitted and this could also lead to a medication error. Both articles cited above are examples of how human factors can also lead to medication errors. Sometimes we misinterpret them for something else and this could also be due to lack of knowledge of the correct dosage of the drug and.