Nursing errors
Nurses receive disproportionate blame for
medication errors; the nursing literature often
highlights medication error rates found in research
studies and reports, and attributes these to
nursing administration of drugs (Brady et al 2009,
McMullan et al 2010). Assumptions have also
been made about limited drug calculation and
numeracy skills among nurses resulting in
medication administration errors (Newton et al
2009, Harvey et al 2010, Ramjan 2011). In
addition, media coverage of medication errors in
health care may be responsible for attributing high
error rates to nurses’ practice (BBC News 2003,
Hall 2006, Mail Online 2006).
Nurses may also attach feelings of guilt and
blame to medication errors in which they are
involved, and often continue to experience these
emotions long after the event (Schelbred and Nord
2007, Treiber and Jones 2010). The case of a nurse
in the US who took her own life in 2010 as a result
of making a fatal medication administration error
demonstrates the personal responsibility nurses
feel when they make errors (Aleccia 2011). Placing
blame for medication errors on an individual or a
group of professionals, should be avoided as it does
not allow the root cause of errors to be addressed
(DH 2004, Vincent 2012).