Evaluation of errors in preparation and administration of intravenous medications in critically ill patients.

Abstract

Intravenous medications have greater complexity and require multiple steps in their preparation and administration, which is considered a high risk for patients. To determine the incidence of intravenous medications preparation and administration errors in critically ill patients. This was an observational, cross-sectional, prospective study design. The study was performed conducted in Wad Medani Emergency Hospital, Sudan on with 33 nurses. All nurses working at the study setting were observed over nine days. During the study period, a total number of 236 drugs were observed and evaluated. The total error rate was 940 (33.4%), of which 136 (57.6%) errors with no harm, 93 (39.4%) errors with harm and 7 (3%) of errors associated with mortality. 17 different drug categories were involved, in which antibiotic was the highest error rate 104 (44.1%) and 39 different drugs were involved, in which metronidazole was the most drug involved 34 (14.4%). The total error rate was associated with nurse experience, OR (95% CI); 3.235 (1.834-5.706), and nurse education level, OR (95% CI); 0.125 (0.052-0.299). The study reported high frequency of IV medications preparation and administration errors. Nurse education level, and experiences were influenced the total errors.