Volume : IV, Issue : V, May - 2015

ADHERENCE TO SAFE PRACTICES OF MEDICATION ADMINISTRATION AMONG NURSES

Mrs. Radhika. M

Abstract :

 Medication safety is important because Medication Errors (MEs) are the most common type of medical error and  are associated with considerable health care expenses. A medication error is defined as ‘any preventable event that  may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care professional,  patient or consumer’.(NCCMERP 2012).Medication errors occurs in all settings and may or may not cause an adverse drug event (ADE). Estimates of the incidence of MEs vary between 5% and 25% of all medication administrations. Nurses are in a key position to identify, intercept  and correct errors before they affect patients. Ensuring patient safety and high quality delivery of care is paramount for nurses in today’s  healthcare system.  OBJECTIVES 1. To examine the nurse adherence to safe practices during Medication Administration,  2. To examine the prevalence of Medication Administration errors . 3. To explore the factors influencing the adherence to safe practices of medication administration. MATERIALS AND METHODS:A descriptive cross–sectional study was conducted to examine the safe practices of medication administration  by using observation check list in the selected hospital at Nellore district.199 patients from general, medical, surgical, ortho, pediatric ,psychiatric wards and intensive care units were included for the study and 57 nurses were observed to assess the adherence to safe practices. Results:  All the nurses 57 (100%) belong to 21–30 yrs years of age, majority of them– 45 (78.90%) were BSc nurses and most of them –36 (63.2%) had  less than 1 yr of experience. Regarding the pts majority of them– 117(58.8%) were males, most of them –140(70.4%) were admitted for medical  treatment and most of them 101(51.3%) received one dose of medication.  With regard to Safe practices –199(100%) times medication was compared with MAR, 169(85%) times minimized distraction during medication administration,189(95%) times ensured medication is labeled throughout the process from preparation to administration, 98(49.2%)  times Checked two forms of patient identification prior to administration of medication,75(36.7) explained medication to patient or family  and 186(93.5%) documented MA immediately after completion. Regarding the prevalence of medication error 172 (86.4%) no error and 27  (13.7%) wrong time error was found. Conclusion: adherence to safe practices minimizes the medication error and distraction is common  deviation found among nurses.

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Article: Download PDF   DOI : 10.36106/ijsr  

Cite This Article:

Mrs. Radhika.M ADHERENCE TO SAFE PRACTICES OF MEDICATION ADMINISTRATION AMONG NURSES International Journal of Scientific Research, Vol : 4, Issue : 5 May 2015

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