A comparison of medication errors between two storage sites

This prospective single-blinded study aimed to compare the types of medication errors and medication error rates of two medication delivery systems. The setting was a 30 bed surgical ward that was divided into two identical areas. In one area medications were stored and issued in a ward bay workstation immediately outside the patients' rooms. The alternate area used a medication trolley at the patients' bedside. Three hundred and forty opportunities for errors were observed using five nurse educators. Twenty administration errors (5.8% error rate) and two dispensing errors (0.6% error rate) were detected. A statistically significant difference was found between the two systems, where four errors occurred from the medication trolley (2.6% error rate), and fifteen errors occurred from the ward bay (9.2% error rate). These results suggest that medications were less likely to be omitted and more likely to be given on time when they were issued at the patient's bedside using the medication trolley.