The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between nurse characteristics and medication errors. The study examined nurses‟ perceptions of factors which contribute to medication errors; barriers to reporting and factors that increase the reporting of medication errors; whether medication errors should be reported to the patient, family or an outside agency; and, medication administration technology for reducing medication errors. A survey was mailed to a random sample of 800 registered nurses (RN) from across the United States who were members of the American Nurses Association. A response rate of 49% was achieved using a three-wave mailing. The primary causes of medication errors identified were interruptions during medication pass, short RN staffing, nurses caring for high acuity patients, nurses working more than 12 hours in one shift, and nurses‟ knowledge of medications dispensed. Approximately one-fourth of nurses reported they had made at least one error that had resulted in some type of harm to a patient in the past 12 months, while approximately 60% of nurses reported making one or more medication errors that did not cause harm to a patient. Rank ordering identified three major barriers to reporting medication errors: fear of
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consequences that may result if a medication error is reported, fear of blame if something happens to the patient due to a medication error, and fear of a reprimand if they reported a medication error had been made. Nurses perceived that medication administration technologies would decrease medication errors in their hospital. The majority of nurses overwhelmingly agreed that medication errors should be communicated to patients or families, as well as hospitals being responsible for communicating their error rates to the public. Results of this study have serious implications for individual staff nurses, nurse administrators, as well as hospital administration and hospital systems in terms of error reduction and patient safety.
The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between nurse characteristics and medication errors. The study examined nurses‟ perceptions of factors which contribute to medication errors; barriers to reporting and factors that increase the reporting of medication errors; whether medication errors should be reported to the patient, family or an outside agency; and, medication administration technology for reducing medication errors. A survey was mailed to a random sample of 800 registered nurses (RN) from across the United States who were members of the American Nurses Association. A response rate of 49% was achieved using a three-wave mailing. The primary causes of medication errors identified were interruptions during medication pass, short RN staffing, nurses caring for high acuity patients, nurses working more than 12 hours in one shift, and nurses‟ knowledge of medications dispensed. Approximately one-fourth of nurses reported they had made at least one error that had resulted in some type of harm to a patient in the past 12 months, while approximately 60% of nurses reported making one or more medication errors that did not cause harm to a patient. Rank ordering identified three major barriers to reporting medication errors: fear of
iv
consequences that may result if a medication error is reported, fear of blame if something happens to the patient due to a medication error, and fear of a reprimand if they reported a medication error had been made. Nurses perceived that medication administration technologies would decrease medication errors in their hospital. The majority of nurses overwhelmingly agreed that medication errors should be communicated to patients or families, as well as hospitals being responsible for communicating their error rates to the public. Results of this study have serious implications for individual staff nurses, nurse administrators, as well as hospital administration and hospital systems in terms of error reduction and patient safety.
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