Original Research: Exploring Medication Safety Practices from the Nurse's Perspective.

Area of Science:

• Nursing Practice
• Patient Safety
• Healthcare Systems

Background:

• Medication preparation and administration are complex nursing tasks.
• Medication errors remain prevalent despite ongoing efforts to reduce them.
• Direct care nurses' insights are vital for identifying improvement opportunities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore direct care nurses' perspectives on medication safety practices.
• To understand nurses' experiences with medication errors.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative descriptive study design.
• Semistructured interviews conducted in focus groups and one-on-one meetings.
• Data analyzed using qualitative direct content analysis.

Main Results:

• Four major themes emerged: care environment, nurse competency, system influences, and the error paradigm.
• Chaotic environments, heavy workloads, and interruptions increase medication error risk.
• Nurses expressed uncertainty regarding the definition and scope of medication errors.

Conclusions:

• Improving medication safety requires addressing environmental barriers and enhancing nurse education.
• Robust training on medication management and error definition is needed.
• Revising policies with direct care nurse input is essential for effective strategies.