The District Nursing Clinical Error Reduction Programme.

Area of Science:

• Nursing Practice
• Patient Safety
• Medication Management

Background:

• Increased medication errors reported in NHS Islington's district nursing service.
• Need to reduce harm and risk associated with medication errors.
• Importance of maintaining a positive error reporting culture.

Purpose of the Study:

• To decrease the actual and potential harm from medication errors.
• To address performance issues within the district nursing service.
• To sustain a proactive medication error reporting system.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 100 reported medication errors using a domiciliary care adverse event framework.
• Identification of contributory factors, including calculation and transcription errors.
• Development and implementation of targeted interventions.
• Follow-up data collection at 12 months and two years.

Main Results:

• Medication errors continued to occur post-intervention.
• A significant reduction in the actual degree of harm was observed.
• A marked decrease in the potential risk of harm associated with errors was noted.

Conclusions:

• The DANCER Programme effectively mitigated harm from medication errors in district nursing.
• Interventions successfully addressed identified performance and skill deficits.
• The programme demonstrated a positive impact on patient safety in community care.