Medication errors of nurses in the emergency department

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Quality
• Patient Safety
• Nursing Practice

Background:

• Medication errors are prevalent global healthcare challenges impacting patient safety and quality of care.
• Accurate medication administration is a critical nursing responsibility.
• Identifying medication errors and their root causes is essential for improving patient safety.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the incidence, types, and causes of medication errors among emergency department nurses.
• To assess the medication error reporting rate within the emergency department setting.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive study was conducted with 94 nurses in the emergency department of Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex.
• Data were collected using a researcher-designed questionnaire with confirmed validity and reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.91).
• Statistical analyses included descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS-16, with significance set at P < 0.05.

Main Results:

• 46.8% of nurses reported medication errors in the past year, with 69.04% reporting a single error.
• A significant majority (72.7%) did not report their errors.
• Common error types included incorrect infusion rates (33.3%) and double-dosing (23.8%), primarily caused by nurse shortages (47.6%) and lack of pharmacological knowledge (30.9%).

Conclusions:

• Medication errors pose a high risk in emergency departments, significantly impacting nursing practice and patient safety.
• Recommendations include increasing nursing staff, managing workloads, providing pharmacological retraining, and fostering a culture of error reporting.
• Addressing these factors is crucial for enhancing patient safety and quality of care in emergency settings.