Effectiveness of Clinical Nurses' interventions in reducing medication errors in a paediatric ward

Area of Science:

• Nursing Practice
• Patient Safety
• Healthcare Quality Improvement

Background:

• Medication administration errors pose a global challenge, with existing interventions often neglecting nurse involvement.
• Previous strategies have focused on isolated aspects of medication management, limiting their overall effectiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess a nurse-developed intervention bundle aimed at decreasing medication administration error rates.
• To enhance nurses' medication administration practices through active participation in research.

Main Methods:

• A three-phase, quantitative Action Research (AR) study involving six pediatric nurses.
• Development and implementation of five nurse-led interventions, followed by evaluation using incident data, policy audits, and the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ).

Main Results:

• A 56.9% reduction in medication error rates post-intervention, despite increased patient admissions and prescriptions.
• Significant decline in medication errors per 1,000 prescribed medications from 2014 to 2016.
• Improved nurse compliance with hospital medication policy and enhanced SAQ scores in five domains.

Conclusions:

• Nurse participation in action research fosters practice reflection and leads to effective, tailored interventions.
• The implemented bundle of interventions successfully improved nursing practice and reduced medication administration errors.
• Engaging nurses in research empowers them to create solutions aligned with their specific practice environments.