Nearly Half of Care Home Nurses Report Medication Errors
In a questionnaire-based study published in Pharmacology Research & Perspectives, nearly half of all nursing staff made at least one error within the last year when administering medications.
The aim of the study was to find out how often medication errors occur and whether they are related to training, quality assurance measures (use of the double-check principle (DCP)), and other structural conditions of home care services.
In the study, 41.6% of nurses reported medication errors within a 12-month period, and 14.8% did not provide an answer. Medication errors experienced by patients include taking the wrong dose or quantity of a particular drug, as well as omission of a drug or taking unlicensed drugs.
Nurses who had attended medication training within the last 2 years were less likely to make errors. Years of professional experience, patient numbers per shift, and full time versus part time work were not statistically significantly associated with reported medication errors.
“The study results underline the need for regularly recurring medication training for nurses to ensure a high level of patient safety – especially in the home care sector, as nurses are the only professional group on site,” said lead author Sandra Strube-Lahmann, RN, MSc, PhD, of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, in Germany.
Source: Wiley
