The Mindful Path to Nursing Accuracy: A Quasi-Experimental Study on Minimizing Medication Administration Errors

Achieving error-free health care is critically vital and includes freedom from the occurrence of medication errors, which, as yet, is an unrealized goal in the United States. The purpose of this study was to minimize or potentially eliminate medication errors by adding training in mindfulness thinking to the current system protocol. The goal of this quantitative, quasi-experimental study was to determine whether training nurses in mindfulness thinking founded on the Dossey Integral Theory changed the frequency and severity of medication administration errors. Data analysis included the following steps: recording of data using the NCC MERP (National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting) instrument, statistical analysis using paired t test, and a logistical interpretation of descriptive statistics. An error reduction of 73.3% between pre- and posttraining mean for the experimental group was observed. This study may add to the limited body of research related to mindfulness and the resultant reduction in medication errors.