The study of medication administration errors and approaches of nurses related to reporting of errors

The errors made in health services appear as a situation which has undesired effects for both patients and health professionals. Medication as an indispensable part of medical treatment is one of the most common and basic function of nurses. In protocol-2 from Nursing Regulations, it is clearly mentioned that medications should be made by nurses through the directions of the physician. In health services, medication errors during nursing administrations are the common and widely seen medical errors. The researches carried out have indicated that most part of such errors are preventable. Among the same system of errors are the insufficient awareness of nurses related to patient safety and the unreported cases, so these remain confidential. Accordingly, it becomes difficult to prevent and find solutions to these errors.PurposeIn this study, the purpose is to determine the types of medication errors and the reasons for not reporting these errors by consulting the opinions of the nurses working at hospitals that provide nursing care. Furthermore, the replies of the nurses to the questions including the scenarios about medication errors and how the nurses approach when they make mistake will be evaluated.MethodThe research was done with the attendance of nurses working and madicating personally in patient care unit of Tepecik Research Hospital, Dr Suat Seren Pulmonary Diseases and Surgery Research Hospital, and Ege Gynecology Research Hospital which are among the research hospitals in Konak county of İzmir. A questionnaire was given to 737 employees during the research process. Of the questionnaires,324 were returned and 12 uncompleted ones were excluded from the analysis. Accordingly, 312 questionnaires were analyzed in total. While preparing the questionnaire, Medication Administration Survey (MAE) by Wakefield et al (1998) and Modified Gladstone Scale which was used in the study titled `views of nurses related to medication errors? by Osborne et al. (1999) were used as sources. In the first part of the questionnaire to be used in the research, the types of medication errors were evaluated, while in the second part, approaches of nurses to the scenarios of medication errors were assessed. In the third part, the reasons for not reporting the errors were taken into consideration. Eventually, last part included the demographical variables. The internal validity of the questionnaire was provided by expert views and literature review. Reliability of the questionnaire was measured by Cronbach alpha coefficient. The data obtained were analysed through the use of SPSS 16.0(Statistical Programme for Social Sciences).FindingsIt was found out that patients of IV (İntravenöz) and non-IV were at a high rate and nurses made mistakes in different rates which vary in different error types. Besides, it is understood that examplary scenarios about medication errors are not considered as an error in general. It was determined that nurses thought they would be accused in case of reporting medication errors, and they were afraid of the reaction of the physician, patient, patient?s relative, management, and their colleagues. Besides,it was observed that they were not supported by the management. The data obtained evidently shows that security culture is not improved in these institutions.ResultMedication errors are the most common and widely observed errors affecting patient?s security during their treatments. It is required for especially middle and top executives to inform all employees having active role in patient care about error reporting to be the first step in improving the system and ensuring security.Key words: medication errors, reporting, nurse