Safe patient care in the preparation and administration of medicines

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the compliance with the assistance and the adhesion of nursing professionals for the safe administration of drugs in an Intensive Care Unit of a public hospital in Sergipe, Brazil. METHOD Quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional study carried out by direct non-participant observation. Data collection performed in 2015. Non-probabilistic sample, for convenience, consisting in the observation of 557 doses of prepared and administered drugs. For data analysis, descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. RESULTS The items classified as safe care were: correct via (85.7%) and correct form (100%). The items classified as undesirable care were: correct patient (33.3%), correct medication (66.67%), correct dose (50%), correct register (33.33%), correct orientation (0%), and correct time (50%). CONCLUSION The practice was evaluated according to Carte's positivity index as undesirable care, considering that six of the eight items had low adhesion. The found weaknesses compromised the whole process of drug administration.