The use of a standard design medication room to promote medication safety: organizational implications

Medication administration is one of the most potentially dangerous tasks in hospitals. In recent years, the medical establishment has gained insight into the importance of environmental and ergonomic factors on patient safety. Limited data are available on how a standard designed medication room (MR) supports safety medication administration.

Proactive observations were conducted at a tertiary care facility, the Hadassah University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel, to determine if safety principles were being implemented in the medication preparation and storage environment. These observations revealed that no designated MRs existed in the hospitals wards and safety systemic weaknesses in medication preparation.

Guidelines for planning and designing MRs, based on safety and human engineering principles, were established to promote safer medication administration in hospital wards.

The purpose of the survey was to compare the implementation of safety principles among hospital wards before and after MR renovation and among hospital wards with and without a MR. Structured observations in medication preparation areas and storage were designed. Selected safety indicators were measured (e.g. ordering and labeling; storage of intravenous infusions). Each category was subdivided into indicators that were design dependent only (DD), design and behavior dependent (DBD) and behavior dependent only (BD).

Indicators that were both DD and DBD showed significant improvement before and after renovation of MRs. Most of the results were not significant for BD indicators. A similar trend was observed in departments with and without a MR. A trend of improvement could be seen in BD-positive indicators, regardless of the presence or absence of a dedicated MR.

A standard design MR can improve environmental aspects of safety medication administration.