Nurses' Coping Capacity for Nursing Interruptions During Medication Administration in Clinical Nursing Practice: A Concept Analysis

Nursing interruptions during medication administration (NIMA) occur frequently, often leading to medication errors and workflow delays that threaten patient safety. While previous studies primarily focused on preventive interventions, many interruptions remain unavoidable in dynamic clinical environments. Nurses' active capacity to cope with these unavoidable events is critical, yet it lacks a clear conceptual definition.

To develop a conceptual definition of nurses' coping capacity for NIMA.

Walker and Avant's eight-step approach to concept analysis was used to identify the defining attributes, antecedents, consequences and empirical referents of nurses' coping capacity for NIMA. Eight databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, Embase, CNKI, Wanfang, VIP and SinoMed, were searched from inception to May 2026. Ultimately, 46 publications met the inclusion criteria.

Five defining attributes were identified: anticipatory preparation, cognitive appraisal, emotion regulation, strategy selection and task recovery. Coping capacity for NIMA was defined as a dynamic professional ability to prepare for and appraise interruptions, regulate emotions, select responses and safely resume medication tasks. Antecedents included work environment, organizational support, medication-task characteristics, interruption-event characteristics and individual nurse factors. Potential consequences included medication-task continuity, medication safety and nurses' personal states. Candidate empirical referents and possible assessment approaches were proposed, drawing on self-report measures, behavioural observation, performance assessment and qualitative inquiry.

This concept analysis clarifies coping capacity for NIMA, providing a theoretical foundation for subsequent operationalisation and the development of dedicated measurement instruments, simulation-based training programmes and medication-safety management strategies.

This framework clarifies how nurses can anticipate, appraise, regulate, respond to and recover from unavoidable medication-administration interruptions. It may guide competency development, task-recovery support and team-based practices to maintain medication continuity and patient safety in routine care.

No patient or public contribution was part of this review.