Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/7229
Title: Detection of medication administration errors at a tertiary hospital using a direct observation approach
Authors: Yousef, Alaa M.
Abu-Farha, Rana K.
Abu-Hammour, Khawla M.
Keywords: Direct observation
Internal medicine
Jordan
Medication administration errors
Tertiary hospital
Issue Date: 2022
Publisher: Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences
Series/Report no.: Original Article;433-440
Abstract: Objectives: Medication administration errors (MAEs) are the most common and significant type of medication errors worldwide. This study aims to assess the prevalence, types, and severity of MAEs. Furthermore, this study attempts to determine the factors associated with the occurrence of MAEs. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted over a three-month interval in the internal medicine ward of a tertiary teaching hospital in Jordan. During the study period, 13 nurses were observed while they were preparing and administering medications using a direct disguised observation method. All the recorded observations about the preparation and administration were compared with the physician’s orders in the medications’ records to identify any possible MAEs. Results: Having observed a total of 1,012 opportunities for errors, 910 MAEs were identified. Among these 910 errors, adherence errors were found to be the most frequent type (n ¼ 364, 35.9%), followed by incorrect drug preparation (n ¼ 247, 24.4%). None of the MAEs revealed any serious harm to patients or contributed to prolonged hospitalization. Antimicrobial drugs (n ¼ 210, 23.0%) was the most common class associated with MAEs, followed by the class of cardiovascular (n ¼ 157, 17.2%) medicines. Results have shown that the occurrence of MAEs was significantly higher in the nonintravenous medications in comparison to the intravenous medications (p-value < 0.001). Conclusion: While this study revealed a high rate of MAEs, all the identified errors did not cause harm to the patients. Continuous awareness and education campaigns targeting the nurses about the importance of proper and safe drug administration are highly recommended.
URI: http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/7229
ISSN: 1658-3612
Appears in Collections:Vol 17 No 3 (2022)

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
433-440.pdf433-4404.69 MBAdobe PDFView/Open


Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.