Knowledge Of Medication Errors Research Articles

Barriers and Facilitators of Voluntary Medication Errors Reporting According to the Nursing Staff in India

Introduction: Medication errors (MEs) are common among nursing staff due to the fear or lack of knowledge and time in reporting MEs. Objective: This study aims to identify the barriers and facilitators of voluntary ME reporting according to the nursing staff in India. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 398 nurses of a hospital in India, working in three different shifts with various specialties, who were selected by a convenience sampling method. A validated questionnaire was used to collect data which was prepared in Google Forms. The chi-square test was used to determine whether there was any statistical difference among the responses. Results: Results showed that 87% of nurses were female and 13% were male. The majority were at an age range of 31–40 years (44.9%) and had good knowledge of MEs and the reporting system in the hospital (96.2%). Regarding the barriers, 29.9% (P<0.001) were a beginner in using the reporting system, while 70% had prior experience with the system; 85.4% (P=0.024) reported the lack of a relaxing working environment, 54.7% (P=0.031) reported burnout, 27.6% (P=0.0001) reported personnel problems, 21.6% (P<0.001) reported peer pressure and so on. Receiving support and encouragement from the multi-disciplinary team (91.7%), receiving feedback for the reported MEs that focuses on the system and not on the individuals (90.7%), professional encouragement for the reported MEs (90.4%), and developing a “no-blame” culture (86.9%) were the facilitators of the voluntary ME reporting by the nursing staffs (none of them were statistically significant). Conclusion: Although it is impractical to eliminate all MEs, the engagement of nursing staff is essential in ME reduction and prevention.

A Cross-sectional Study on Occurrence of Medication Errors in Outpatient Pediatric Department of Public Sector Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan

<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Background:</strong> The knowledge of medication errors is an essential prerequisite for better healthcare delivery. Medication errors are potential errors and impart a significant burden on patient quality of life as well as economic status.<strong> Objectives:</strong> The study was conducted with objective to determine the prevalence and nature of medication errors in pediatric out-patients and also to study their prescribing pattern. <strong>Methods:</strong> A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted in Outpatient Pediatric Department of Public Sector Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan over a period of one month during which 240 prescriptions were evaluated to identify medication errors and prescribing pattern. Data was collected by using a self-designed data collection tool and analyzed using SPSS version 20. <strong>Results:</strong> Current study evaluated 240 outpatient prescription orders out of which 234 were found to have medication errors. Highest percentage of errors observed in studied population including prescription errors (missed prescriber and patient information) (86.8%), prescribing errors (7.6%) and dispensing errors (3.6%) respectively. Upper Respiratory Tract Infection was the extensive complaint of majority of patients and the drugs of concern were mainly antibiotics, antihistamines, analgesics and anti-inflammatory and expectorants. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> The current detection of medication errors reveals about recurrent basis of prescribing errors in addition to prescription parts errors. These findings emphasizes that prescribers need to work in alliance with pharmacist to improve patient&rsquo;s quality of life in primary care. <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Key words:</strong> Medication error, Pediatric, Outpatient, Prescription.

Recognition and Disclosure of Medical Errors Among Residents in Surgical Specialties in a Tertiary Hospital in Ibadan.

Medical error (ME) remains central to discussions regarding patient's safety and its frequency appears high in surgical specialties because of some peculiarities. We set out to study the perception of surgical residents about medical errors, their ability to recognize them and predisposition to disclosing their errors. This was a cross-sectional study among surgical residents at the University College Hospital, Nigeria. Data about their knowledge, perception and recognition of medical errors were obtained. Knowledge and practice of medical error disclosure was also examined. Each of these was scored on Likert scale and scores categorized. Chi-square test and logistic regression were used for analysis with p at <0.05. 92 residents participated and 11(12.0%) were females. 32.6% of the respondents had less knowledge about medical errors and these were significantly junior residents. Residents with poor perception about ME were 43.5% and recent involvement with ME was significantly associated with good perception about ME. Delay in obtaining consultation and delay in diagnosis were identified respectively as MEs by only 40(43.5%) and 31(33.7) of the participants. While 82(89.1%) agreed that all errors should be reported to the consultant, only 20(21.7%) believed patients/relatives should be informed of all errors, while 49(53.3%) were well disposed to disclosing ME. Only 4(4.3%) residents had a formal training on ME. Knowledge of ME was low among junior residents and residents are less likely to disclose error to patients/relatives. A formal training on ME will impact on their recognition, practice, and disclosure of ME.

Understanding the human and system factors involved in medication errors.

Medication errors involving patients are a serious concern in healthcare practice. Nurses, more than any other healthcare professional group, are principally involved in medicines administration. This article recognises the complexity of why medication errors occur and considers the many factors involved, including those from an individual and organisational system perspective. It adopts a solution-focused approach, based on the evidence underpinning the knowledge of medication errors.

Medication errors among health professionals in Nigeria: A national survey

Medication errors are preventable causes of patient harm with significant contributions to adverse drug events but they remain understudied in Nigeria. To estimate the prevalence of self-reported medication errors among health professionals and examine their knowledge of medication errors with the hope of identifying appropriate measures to promote medication safety. A cross sectional survey among doctors, pharmacists and nurses in 10 tertiary hospitals. Information was obtained using a self-administered structured questionnaire. Correct responses evaluating the knowledge of prescription, dispensing and administration errors were scored one mark each and the composite scores computed. Appropriate statistics were applied to summarize and establish the relationship between variables at 5% level of significance using SPSS 17.0. A total of 2,386 professionals participated in the study (46.3% nurses, 44.9% doctors, 8.8% pharmacists).The prevalence of self-reported medication errors was 47%.The professional groups differ in their knowledge of all the aspects of medication errors with professional cadres influencing knowledge.Overwork was the most reason for being error prone (59.2%) and only 35.5% had ever reported medication error. 33.4% did not think reporting was necessary. The prevalence of medication errors is high among health care professionals in Nigeria. Knowledge gaps and practice deficiencies were identified requiring interventions.

The Approach of Pharmacy Students Towards Communication of Medication Errors in Karachi, Pakistan

Purpose: To assess pharmacy students’ knowledge of communicating medication errors in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: The study design was cross-sectional and conducted from February to May 2014. A previously validated questionnaire was adopted, modified and distributed to final year pharmacy students in four universities of Karachi. Descriptive statistics were used to present students’ demographic information and their response to the questionnaire items. Pearson chi square test and Logistic regression model were executed to evaluate the association of gender and institution of students with their response. Results: Out of 600 survey questionnaires distributed, only 464 were returned in useable form, giving a response rate of 77.33 %. A majority of the students showed moderately positive attitude towards general communication and training in communicating medication errors. More than 40 % of the respondents were not satisfied with the training they received in communicating and reporting incidence of medication errors. Incorrect drug (14.65 %), incorrect dose (8.40 %) and improper storage of medicines (7.97 %) were the most common errors observed by the students during clerkship. Conclusion: The findings indicate the need for a more standardized approach to improving knowledge of medication errors as well as training in the communication of occurrence of medication errors. Keywords: Communication, Medication error, Pharmacy students, Standardized training

Knowledge of healthcare professionals about medication errors in hospitals.

Context:Medication errors are the most common types of medical errors in hospitals and leading cause of morbidity and mortality among patients.Aims:The aim of the present study was to assess the knowledge of healthcare professionals about medication errors in hospitals.Settings and Design:A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to randomly selected healthcare professionals in eight hospitals in Madinah, Saudi Arabia.Subjects and Methods:An 18-item survey was designed and comprised questions on demographic data, knowledge of medication errors, availability of reporting systems in hospitals, attitudes toward error reporting, causes of medication errors.Statistical Analysis Used:Data were analyzed with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software Version 17.Results:A total of 323 of healthcare professionals completed the questionnaire with 64.6% response rate of 138 (42.72%) physicians, 34 (10.53%) pharmacists, and 151 (46.75%) nurses. A majority of the participants had a good knowledge about medication errors concept and their dangers on patients. Only 68.7% of them were aware of reporting systems in hospitals. Healthcare professionals revealed that there was no clear mechanism available for reporting of errors in most hospitals. Prescribing (46.5%) and administration (29%) errors were the main causes of errors. The most frequently encountered medication errors were anti-hypertensives, antidiabetics, antibiotics, digoxin, and insulin.Conclusions:This study revealed differences in the awareness among healthcare professionals toward medication errors in hospitals. The poor knowledge about medication errors emphasized the urgent necessity to adopt appropriate measures to raise awareness about medication errors in Saudi hospitals.

Knowledge, skills, and attitudes of medical students to patient safety: a cross‐sectional pilot investigation in China

To reduce harm caused by health care is a global priority. Medical students should be able to recognize unsafe conditions, systematically report errors, and near misses, investigate and improve such systems with a thorough understanding of human fallibility, and disclose errors to patients. Therefore, incorporating knowledge about patient safety into medical school curriculums is an urgent necessity. To describe the extent to which Chinese medical students have patient safety in their knowledge, skills, and attitudes so as to provide evidence for implementation of a patient safety curriculum in medical schools, and to assess the quality of this investigative questionnaire. Our questionnaire of 31 items was developed based on a 2008 WHO pilot study for a patient safety curriculum guide. Our investigation was conducted in three university medical schools in China. Year 3 and year 4 medical students were asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire in their classroom settings. All items were scored from 1 to 5. Differences in responses among different universities, genders, and levels, as well as the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, were analyzed using SPSS 15.0. A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed, and 143 male and 262 female students completed the survey. An average of 0.96% of survey questions were not answered, of which the most frequently unanswered item was "what will happen when medical error occurs?" The students' attitudes to learning about patient safety were positive, although their knowledge of medical error and how to report error was poor. There were no statistical differences among different medical schools and levels in any item responses. The only gender difference appeared in the response to "I would like to discuss with others when I made a medical error." There was a good coherence of reliability in sections 2, 3, and 4 of the questionnaire (Cronbach's alpha > 0.8), while sections 5 and 6 scored as less reliable. The validity of the questionnaire was good. Although medical students' understanding of patient safety is very poor in China, the students have a positive attitudes to learning about the knowledge of patient safety in their future careers.

Analysis of medication errors in a private hospital: pharmacist interventions

BackgroundThe medication errors (ME) represent the largest single cause of errors in the hospital setting, and some of them result in serious patient morbidity/mortality. A knowledge of ME in every...

Administration of medicines

Rachel Jones has improved her knowledge of medication errors after reading a continuing professional development article