Nursing student medication errors involving tubing and catheters: a descriptive study

Area of Science:

• Medical error analysis
• Patient safety research
• Nursing education

Background:

• Medication errors pose a significant risk to patient safety.
• Tubing and catheter misconnections are a specific type of medical error with potential for harm.
• Understanding the frequency and nature of these errors in nursing students is crucial for improving training and preventing future incidents.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze medication errors involving tubing and catheter misconnections made by nursing students.
• To identify the characteristics and categories of these misconnection errors.
• To determine the frequency of different types of tubing errors and associated problems.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective case study design.
• Analysis of 27 medication error reports from the MEDMARX database.
• Categorization of errors based on the United States Pharmacopeia's classification system (Categories B, C, and D).

Main Results:

• Twenty-seven medication errors involving tubing and catheter misconnections by nursing students were identified.
• The majority of errors were Category C (21) and Category D (4), indicating no patient harm or minimal monitoring increase.
• Intravenous tubing errors were more frequent than other types, with clamp-related issues present in 12 reports. Registered nurses frequently discovered these errors.

Conclusions:

• Nursing students are involved in medication errors related to tubing and catheter misconnections.
• While most errors did not result in patient harm, the frequency of intravenous tubing misconnections and clamp issues highlights areas for educational focus.
• Interprofessional collaboration and enhanced supervision by registered nurses are important in identifying and preventing these errors.