Adherence to safety barriers in medication administration: patients' perception

Area of Science:

• Healthcare quality and patient safety
• Nursing and medication administration practices

Background:

• Patient safety during medication administration is paramount.
• Understanding patient perceptions of safety barrier adherence is crucial for quality improvement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate patient perceptions of healthcare professionals' adherence to medication administration safety barriers.
• To identify factors influencing these perceptions.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional, correlational study involving 249 adult medical clinic patients.
• Data collected via an electronic form, analyzed using descriptive statistics and Bayesian Information criterion.
• A perception score cutoff of 0.75 defined positive assessment.

Main Results:

• The average patient perception score for adherence was 0.29.
• Most patients believed 8 out of 15 analyzed safety barriers were never adhered to.
• Patient age was the sole statistically significant variable.

Conclusions:

• Younger patients reported a more favorable perception of adherence to medication safety barriers.
• Findings suggest a need to enhance safety barrier implementation and patient communication.