FINDINGS
The average age of the participating nurses was 24.7 ± 3.58 years, and the majority of these were women
(96.6%). 55.5% of the nurses were working in pediatric inpatient wards. More than half of the nurses (69.9%)
stated that they had been working in a pediatric inpatient ward for 1–5 years. 52.1% of the nurses stated
that they were caring for 1–5 patients per shift, more than half of the nurses (63%) stated that a typical shift
involved continuous work for 48–50 hours (Table 1)
As shown in Table 2, nurses’ opinions regarding the primary causes of medication errors were predominantly
long work hours (68.1%), a high patient/nurse ratio (58.8%), and unavailability of medications in dosages
and forms appropriate for pediatric patients (56.3%).
From the compiled results it was estimated that, overall, only 47.9% of medication errors were notified.
Among the reasons given for not notifying errors, potential blaming of nurses was the most common response
(52.9%). The rate of notification was significantly higher among intensive care nurses than among service
nurses (t = 5.98; P = 0.01), and also among nurses looking after 1–5 patients (t = 4.78; P = 0.01) than for
nurses caring for an average of 6–10 patients (Table 4). There were no statistically significant differences in
notification rates according to age, years of work experience, or working hours (P > 0.05).
Regarding avoidance of medication errors, a substantial proportion of nurses (45.4%) emphasized the importance
of formal instructions accompanying medications that provide details of recommended use including typical
dosage schedules, patient exclusions and potential adverse reactions (Table 5). This suggestion was followed
by reducing the patient/nurse ratio (19.3%) and reducing work hours (16.8%) (Table 5).
CONCLUSION
The rate of medication errors is largely governed by human factors that, despite current developments in
informatics and computer technology, are not easily amenable to monitoring. Errors in medication administration
compromise patient safety and can increase morbidity and mortality. Pediatric patients are relatively vulnerable
compared to adults, reflecting their incomplete physiological development, and children are therefore more
likely to be adversely affected by medication errors. Pediatric nurses have a key role in monitoring, notifying
and avoiding medication errors. The perspective of pediatric nurses regarding medication errors is therefore
an important foundation point for developing strategies to avoid medication errors.