Investigation of hospital oral administration at night among elderly inpatients

Abstract

Objective To ensure the safety of oral administration at night among elderly inpatients. Methods By the purposive sampling method, a total of 165 clinical nurses and 274 elderly patients were selected as sample. Elderly patients received nocturnal tracking and 165 nurses underwent survey questionnaire, that investigate risk factors for night safety of oral-administration. Results For circumstances of night oral medicine administration among 165 nurses, the rate of medicine inspection was highest (90.9%), while the implementation rate of putting medicine into mouth was lowest (33.3%). Drug regimen and administration time of elderly patients had positive correlation with the implantation level of putting medicine in the mouth by nurses (r=0.407, 0.335; P<0.05). The compliance and posture of medication administration had positive correlation with medicine knowledge education to patients by nurses (r=0.380, 0.429; P<0.05), and the adverse reactions of patients was positively correlated with nurses observed after taking the drug (r=0.464, P<0.05). Conclusions We should focus on guiding elderly patients to take medicine correctly and compliance of medicine order, and carry out the training of comprehensive drug knowledge for nurses to decrease the risks of night medicine administration. Key words: Night medicine administration; Oral medicine; Safety management; Elderly patients