Do Nurses Follow The “Right Response”? Mixed Methods Research

Abstract

Aim: Drug administration and management is an important procedure among clinical nursing practices and is one of the significant indicators affecting patient safety and quality of care. It was aimed to determine the nurses' monitoring of drug effects after drug treatment.
 Methods: In the study, sequential explanatory design from exploratory and mixed research methods was used. Quantitative data were collected using a data collection form and qualitative data were collected through in-depth and individual interviews using a semi-structured interview form. The interviews were recorded with a voice recorder.
 Results: It was determined that the average age, working years, weekly working hours, and daily number of patients cared for by the nurses were respectively 30.46±6.96, 7.1±6.31, 44.92±5.71, 15.42±11.89 years. It was found that 54.2% of the nurses checked the drug package insert before administering the medication, 74.5% of the nurses always considered the history of drug and food allergy to be of vital importance before drug administration, and 97.9% of the nurses reported unexpected side/toxic effects. As a result of in-depth interviews with the nurses participating in the study, three themes were identified: the approach of right drug administration principles, the approach of following the right response, and the follow-up status of nurses after drug administration.
 Conclusion: In the study, it was determined that nurses lacked knowledge about the right to correct medication, and could not implement the right to correct response due to high workload, low number of nurses and lack of time. It was observed that nurses gave the responsibility of correct response follow-up to the patient or the patient's relatives. By evaluating the reasons for not implementing the right to correct response, it is recommended that the number of nurses should be increased, the workload should be regulated, and nurses should receive training on correct drug administration and especially on the importance of correct response. It is also recommended that nurses receive training and counseling on their duties, authorities and responsibilities.