Emergency Department Nurses' Perceptions toward Factors Influencing the Occurrence of Medication Administration Errors

Abstract

Background: Significant efforts have been directed to understand medication errors causes in recent years because it contributes directly to patient morbidity and mortality. This study was conducted to determine the factors influencing the occurrence of medication administration errors, as perceived by nurses in emergency department (ED). Aim: The current study aimed to assess emergency department nurses’ perceptions toward factors influencing the occurrence of medication administration errors. Design: The study followed a cross-sectional descriptive design. Setting: The present study was carried out at ED in teaching Main University Hospital in Alexandria governorate, Egypt. Subjects: 84 nursing staff worked in the previous mentioned setting. Tool: The data gathering tool was Medication Administration Errors (MAEs) Reporting Questionnaire which was developed by Wakefield in 1998 [1]. It contains 16 items regarding reasons why medication errors occur. Results: This study suggested four categories for reasons of why MAEs occur in emergency department and the leading cause of medication errors was due to nurses- physicians' communication. Conclusion: Medication errors are common in emergency department. A wide range of factors perceived as contributing factors of the occurrence of medication administration errors were identified such as nurses- physicians communication, medication packaging, pharmacy processes and nurse staffing. This information could be used to improve the medication system in emergency department in Egypt. Recommendations: This study recommended for provision of safe work environment that encourage good physicians-nurses team work relationship, dissemination of safety guidelines in all hospital department specially nursing and pharmacy, on-going education and training on safe medication administration and supervision of newly hired nursing staff during medication administration process and provision of adequate staffing and fair scheduling for nursing staff working in a highly urgent care departments.