Medication Safety Practices: A Patient’s Perspective (original) (raw)

Nurses' experiences and perspectives on medication safety practices: an explorative qualitative study

Journal of Nursing Management, 2014

Nursing Management Nurses' experiences and perspectives on medication safety practices: an explorative qualitative study Aim To explore nurses' experiences with and perspectives on preventing medication administration errors. Background Insight into nurses' experiences with and perspectives on preventing medication administration errors is important and can be utilised to tailor and implement safety practices. Methods A qualitative interview study of 20 nurses in an academic medical centre was conducted between March and December of 2011. Results Three themes emerged from this study: (1) nurses' roles and responsibilities in medication safety: aside from safe preparation and administration, the clinical reasoning of nurses is essential for medication safety; (2) nurses' ability to work safely: knowledge of risks and nurses' work circumstances influence their ability to work safely; and (3) nurses' acceptance of safety practices: advantages, feasibility and appropriateness are important incentives for acceptance of a safety practice. Conclusions Nurses' experiences coincide with the assumption that they are in a pre-eminent position to enable safe medication management; however, their ability to adequately perform this role depends on sufficient knowledge to assess the risks of medication administration and on the circumstances in which they work. Implications for nursing management Safe medication management requires a learning climate and professional practice environment that enables further development of professional nursing skills and knowledge.

Evaluating Safety Measures Regarding Medication Administration among Staff Nurses

Mansoura Nursing Journal

Background: Nurses are responsible for ensuring safety and quality of patient care at all times. Many nursing tasks involve a degree of risk such as medication administration procedures carries the greatest risk for patients if staff nurses not follow five rights of medication administration (patient, drug, route, time and dose). Aim: the study aimed to evaluate nurses' knowledge and performance about safety measures in medication administration among staff nurses. Method: A descriptive correlational research design was utilized; the study was conducted on 350 staff nurses working at Al-Mahalla general hospital. Data was collected by using two tool, Medication Safety Measures Knowledge Assessment Questionnaire. Safe Medication Administration Observation Checklist. Results: The study results showed that total nurses' knowledge of safety measures related to medication administration was high level as well as their total performance related to medication administration. Conclusion: There was statistically significant correlation between staff nurses' knowledge and their performance of safety measures related to medication administration. Recommendation: Provision of adequate supervision and guidance for nurses. Establishing a standard of reward or promotion for nurses who follow the hospital policies related to dealing with medication administration.

A multi-disciplinary approach to medication safety and the implication for nursing education and practice

Nurse Education Today, 2014

s u m m a r y Background: Medication management is a complex multi-stage and multi-disciplinary process, involving doctors, pharmacists, nurses and patients. Errors can occur at any stage from prescribing, dispensing and administering, to recording and reporting. There are a number of safety mechanisms built into the medication management system and it is recognised that nurses are the final stage of defence. However, medication error still remains a major challenge to patient safety globally. Objectives: This paper aims to illustrate two main aspects of medication safety practices that have been elicited from an action research study in a Scottish Health Board and three local Higher Education Institutions: firstly current medication safety practices in two clinical settings; and secondly pre and post-registration nursing education and teaching on medication safety. Method: This paper is based on Phase One and Two of an Action Research project. An ethnography-style observational method, influenced by an Appreciative Inquiry (AI) approach was adapted to study the everyday medication management systems and practices of two hospital wards. This was supplemented by seven in-depth interviews with nursing staff, numerous informal discussions with healthcare professionals, two focus-groups, one peer-interview and two in-depth individual interviews with final year nursing students from three Higher Education Institutions in Scotland.

The Nurses ’ Understanding About Patient Safety and Medication Errors

2015

This study aimed to verify the understanding of nurses from basic and hospital care units about patient safety and medication errors, as well as identifying the behavior and strategies used in the occurrence of medication errors. It is a qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive research. The sample consisted of 20 nurses from São Paulo state. The theoretical reference of thematic analysis was used for data analysis. There was a good understanding of the concept of patient safety and the participants identified that the nurse has a fundamental role in the propagation of safety. An absence of uniformity about the understanding of medication errors was observed among nurses. The main factors identified as contributing to the occurrence of errors were work overload and lack of attention. Employee orientation was the most reported conduct to deal with medication errors. Capacitation and trainings emerged as the most used strategies for improving medication safety. It was noted that ther...

Improving medication administration safety: using naïve observation to assess practice and guide improvements in process and outcomes

Journal for healthcare quality : official publication of the National Association for Healthcare Quality

To present findings from the Collaborative Alliance for Nursing Outcomes' (CALNOC) hospital medication administration (MA) accuracy assessment in a sample of acute care hospitals. Aims were as follows: (1) to describe the CALNOC MA accuracy assessment, (2) to examine nurse adherence to six safe practices during MA, (3) to examine the prevalence of MA errors in adult acute care, and (4) to explore associations between safe practices and MA accuracy. Using a cross-sectional design, point in time, and convenience sample, direct observation data were collected by 43 hospitals participating in CALNOC's benchmarking registry. Data included 33,425 doses from 333 observation studies on 157 adult acute care units. Results reveal that the most common MA safe practice deviations were distraction/interruption (22.89%), not explaining medication to patients (13.90%), and not checking two forms of ID (12.47%). The most common MA errors were drug not available (0.76%) and wrong dose (0.45%...

Measures used by nurses in safe medication administration practices atthe BRH20200210 114964 14l9fuj

Measures use by nurses in safe medication practices, 2020

Background: Patient safety is a significant challenge facing healthcare systems today. An important part of patient safety is the issue of medication administration within the acute-care setting that has long been the focus of scrutiny and research because it contributes directly to patient morbidity and mortality. Aim: The research on “measures used by nurses in safe medication administration practices” was under taken because medication administration is a risk filled procedure in nursing practice and all medications are potential poisons hence necessitating appropriate care when they are being administered [1]. Thus, the objectives of the study was; to identify safe medication administration practice amongst nurses, to assess the role of the nurse in safe medication administration of different routes ,to assess the challenges faced by nurses in carrying out safe medication administration practices. The target population was all the nurses / midwives of the Bamenda Regional hospital with an inclusion criteria being nurses / midwives who were directly involved in bedside patient care. The sample was calculated using a sample size calculation approach to get the number of nurses / midwives to use. The study design was a cross sectional design where the instrument of data collection was the use of an observational checklist and the administration of close ended questionnaires. Results: This study recorded 45 nurses amongst whom were 29 females and 16males. The majority(48.9%) of participants were between the age range 18-28yrs and 21(46.7%) had a work experience that fell within the range 0-5years. The study assesede the participants on the role of nurses in drug administration using different routes, for rectal medication administration, majority of the nurses (73.3%) of the nurses made sure patients defecated before the drug was administered. For topical medication administration, all the nurses used clean used clean gloves and a further majority (66.7%) ensured hygiene and proper documentation, subcutaneous route of administration(p-value <0.01), it was found out that 100% of nurses choose proper injection sites while only 93.3% of nurses document as per agency. For intramuscular route of administration, 100% of the nurses attended to medications once prepared from ampule. In direct intravenous route of drug administration, 100% of the nurses flushed with saline before and after administration to ensure potency. In conclusion, the prevalence of drug administration of different route amongst nurses in this study was 74.3%. this high prevalence recorded was probably because most nurses had good nursing practices on drug administration due to proper training and longitivity in service(p-value 0.02). Conclusion: proper medication administration of different route and safe medication practices are common in this study. Actually, reducing challenges they face requires the commitment of everyone with a stake in keeping patients safe; physician who wrote the prescription, pharmacist who dispensed it and the nurse who received the medicine and administered to the patient, all should assist to improve safe medication administration. Recommendation: the ministery of public health should charge hospitals to organize work shops for nurses to improve on medication admnistration. Keywords: Medication administration errors, drug administration of different route, Patient safety, role of nurses in drug administration.

Nursing Strategies to Increase Medication Safety in Inpatient Settings

Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 2016

Using data obtained through 2 multidisciplinary studies focused on medication safety effectiveness, this article provides nursing recommendations to decrease medication delivery errors. Strategies to minimize and address interruptions/distractions are proposed for the 3 most problematic time frames in which medication errors typically arise: medication acquisition, transportation, and bedside delivery. With planned interventions such as programmed scripts and hospital-based protocols to manage interruptions and distractions, patient safety can be maintained in the inpatient setting.

The Role of Hospital Inpatients in Supporting Medication Safety: A Qualitative Study

PloS one, 2016

Inpatient medication errors are a significant concern. An approach not yet widely studied is to facilitate greater involvement of inpatients with their medication. At the same time, electronic prescribing is becoming increasingly prevalent in the hospital setting. In this study we aimed to explore hospital inpatients' involvement with medication safety-related behaviours, facilitators and barriers to this involvement, and the impact of electronic prescribing. We conducted ethnographic observations and interviews in two UK hospital organisations, one with established electronic prescribing and one that changed from paper to electronic prescribing during our study. Researchers and lay volunteers observed nurses' medication administration rounds, pharmacists' ward rounds, doctor-led ward rounds and drug history taking. We also conducted interviews with healthcare professionals, patients and carers. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Observation notes and transc...

Nurses’ Perceptions of Safety Climate and Barriers to Report Medication Errors.

Patient safety issues, including safety climate and medication safety, are central concerns for the nursing profession and nurses’ job responsibility. Creating an environment conducive to reporting errors requires and related to a systems approach to patient safety and safety climate. Therefore, this study aimed to assess nurses’ perceptions of safety climate and barriers to report medication errors. The study conducted at all in-patient medical and surgical care units at Alexandria Main University Hospital. A random sample of (50%) staff nurses (N = 204) who working in the previous units were included. Safety Climate Scale (SCS) was used to measure nurses’ perceptions of safety climate. Barriers to Reporting Medication Administration Errors Questionnaire (BRMAE-Q) was used to measure nurses’ perceptions of barriers to report medication errors. Nurses perceived high safety climate in their units and perceived that the most barriers that hinder them to report medication errors are “Disagreement over what is medication error and its definition, and power distance”. While, reporting effort is the least barrier to report medication errors. Also, there was a positive significant correlation between nurses’ perception of overall safety climate and perceived barriers to report medication errors. Nurses might perceive that safe work climate could be related to their unreporting of medication errors. Continuous in-service educational programs on quality and safety including safe work environment and safe climate as well as a blame-free culture for reporting errors are recommended.

Patient Safety Culture and Application of Medication Safety Rules as Perceived by Nurses

American Journal of Nursing Science, 2016

Background: Patient safety is one of the biggest challenges in health care through providing safe, effective care, and one of the most significant areas of opportunity for improvement is medication safety, which is a top priority for patient harm prevention from medication errors. Aim: To assess nurses' perceptions concerning patient safety culture and the applicability of medication safety rules. Design: A descriptive correlational design was utilized. Settings: Six hospitals affiliated to the Ministry of Health from three governorates in Egypt. Participants: A sample of 421 nurses was chosen from the selected hospitals to participate in a structured questionnaire dealing with twelve dimensions to determine the level of nurses' awareness and their perceptions of patient safety culture, and the application of medication safety rules was measured by 99 questions under thirteen dimensions to collect the study data. The results revealed that only 26.13% of studied nurses indicated a high perception of overall patient safety culture, although 77.90% reported no adverse events during the last six months. Furthermore, 76.72% reported that they applied overall medication rules to prevent errors. Based on the study findings, it is recommended to develop strategies to disseminate patient safety culture and reduce punitive culture in health organizations, creating a climate of open communication and continuous learning. The development and optimizing of data collection and reporting systems and evidence-based programs for improving culture of patient safety in hospitals is necessary, and nurses must be encouraged to learn more about incident reports and how to write medication administration error reports.