The influence of new nurses’ knowledge, nursing performance, and educational needs of chemotherapy medication on chemotherapy medication errors

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the factors affecting the chemotherapy medication errors made by new nurses and to use the results as basic data for the development of a chemotherapy medication nursing education program for new nurses.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 189 new nurses working at a general hospital and a tertiary general hospital in Korea. The data collection period was from January 11 to February 7, 2021. The data collected during this study were analyzed using the IBM SPSS statistics version 25.0 program. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, independent t-test, ANOVA, and logistic regression analysis.Results: One factor influencing chemotherapy medication errors was new nurses’ educational needs (odds ratio=.18, <i>p</i>=.005). As educational needs increased, the probability of making errors in medication was reduced by .18.Conclusion: It is necessary to develop a chemotherapy medication education program tailored to the educational needs of new nurses by considering the education period, method, and content, with a focus on the content with high demand from new nurses.