Work Interruption Experienced by Nurses during Medication Administration Process and Associated Factors, Northwest...

Area of Science:

• Nursing Practice
• Patient Safety
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Medication administration involves preparation, administration, and documentation.
• Work interruptions are common during this process.
• Interruptions lead to medication administration errors, impacting patient safety.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the prevalence of work interruptions during medication administration.
• To identify factors associated with work interruptions in nurses.

Main Methods:

• Prospective, observational, cross-sectional study.
• Data collected from 278 nurses using a structured observational sheet.
• Logistic regression analysis to identify associated factors.

Main Results:

• 1,152 work interruptions occurred during medication administration.
• 50.3% of interruptions were classified as major/severe.
• Work unit, day of the week, nurse experience, interruption severity perception, interruption source, and secondary tasks were significantly associated with major interruptions (p < 0.05).

Conclusions:

• Over half of work interruptions during medication administration are major/severe.
• Nurses with less experience, specific interruption sources, and those managing secondary tasks are more vulnerable.
• Recommendations include increasing nurse awareness, assigning additional staff for secondary tasks, and providing supportive supervision.