Frequency and causes of medication errors of nurses in
Advances in Nursing & Midwifery,
Vol. 24 No. 86 (2015),
9 Mehr 2015
,
Page 17-26
Abstract
Background: Medication orders are an important part of the healing and patient care process. Considering the
increasing statistics of medication errors, a study was conducted to study the frequency, type, and causes of
medication errors of nurses in medical and surgical wards in different shifts of educational hospitals affiliated
with ShahidBeheshti University of Medical Science in 2012.
Materials and Methods:This is a descriptive study conducted on 218 nurses working at medical and surgical
wards of educational hospitals affiliated with ShahidBeheshti University of Medical Science in 2012. The
sampling method was stratified. Data collection tools were questionnaires. The data was analyzed by SPSS
18th version using descriptive statistics, two-sample tests, analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation
coefficient.
Results: The average medication errors in one monthwas 31/6 casesper nurse. Gender and shiftwork were
significantly related to medication errors so that the average medication errors more in men than in women.
Furthermore Statistical significant difference was observed in the number of medication errors in different
shiftwork indicating that the average medication errors were the highest in the afternoon and night shifts. The
average of medication errors in night shift were more than morning shift while there was no difference
between the morning shift and the rotation one. Wrong time error was the most frequent one in the study.
According to nurses the most important factors in medication errors are high workload, lack of nurses per
patients in each ward, and fatigue.
Conclusion:Based on the results of the study, it's necessary for nursing managers to pay more attention to
logical proportion of patient/staff at different wards, reduction of workload and reduction of nurses" work
hours because these factors can lead to their fatigue and a fall in their concentration.
Keywords: medication errors, nurses, and factors
- medication errors
- nurses
- and factors
How to Cite
References
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