When the 5 rights go wrong: medication errors from the nursing perspective.

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Patient Safety
• Healthcare Quality

Background:

• Medication errors pose a significant risk to patient safety.
• Understanding the causes and experiences of medication errors from the nurse's perspective is vital for effective intervention.
• Existing research often lacks detailed insights into frontline nurses' direct experiences with medication errors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore registered nurses' perceptions regarding the causes and contributing factors of medication errors.
• To document nurses' personal experiences with medication errors.
• To provide a frontline nursing perspective on medication errors to enhance the existing body of knowledge.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive, cross-sectional survey design was employed.
• A random sample of registered nurses was surveyed via mail.
• Response rate was 202 out of the sample size, with 158 (78%) admitting to medication errors.

Main Results:

• A significant majority of responding nurses (78%) admitted to making medication errors.
• Nurses provided detailed accounts of how and why these medication errors occurred.
• The study highlights the prevalence of medication errors within nursing practice.

Conclusions:

• Frontline nurses' perceptions and experiences offer critical insights into medication error causation.
• Addressing medication errors requires understanding the nurse's viewpoint and the systemic factors involved.
• This study contributes valuable data on medication errors from the perspective of those directly involved in patient care.