Identifying Risk Areas of Medication Administration Process for Developing an Interactive Three-Dimensional Game...

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Patient Safety
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Medication administration errors pose a significant risk in acute care settings.
• Existing educational interventions for medication administration have shown variable effectiveness.
• A comprehensive understanding of risk areas is needed to develop targeted safety improvements.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and describe risk areas within the medication administration process in acute care.
• To inform the development of a novel three-dimensional game intervention aimed at enhancing medication administration safety.
• To analyze factors contributing to medication errors from multiple data sources.

Main Methods:

• Secondary analysis of observed medication administrations and errors.
• Systematic review and meta-analysis of educational interventions (2000-2015).
• Qualitative content analysis of incident reports and focus group interviews with registered nurses (RNs).

Main Results:

• Identified risk areas encompass patient-related factors (e.g., identification, allergies), medication-related factors (e.g., information, drug characteristics), staffing issues (e.g., workload, interruptions), and communication breakdowns.
• Patient identification, medication information, and communication flow were highlighted as critical areas.
• RNs' perspectives identified workload and interruptions as significant challenges.

Conclusions:

• The identified risk areas provide a foundation for developing targeted interventions to enhance medication administration safety.
• A three-dimensional game intervention is proposed to address identified risks and improve nurses' skills.
• Improving nurses' skills and addressing systemic issues in medication administration are crucial for patient safety.