Patient safety in the process of pharmacotherapy carried out by nurses – A Polish-Slovak prospective observational study

Abstract

Aim This study was aimed at the determination and comparison of safety levels at the nurse-managed stage of the pharmacotherapy process in Poland and Slovakia by identifying the key risk factors which directly affect patient safety. Background/Introduction: Pharmacotherapy, i.e. the use of medicines for combating a disease or its symptoms, is one of the crucial elements of patient care. Studies carried out with regard to nursing workloads in the pharmacotherapy process prove that nurses spend 40% of their work on the management of medications. Medicine administration is the most frequent task of all nursing activities, and there is a possibility of committing errors at this stage due to the complex and multifaceted nature of the pharmacotherapy process. Methods The study involved a group of 1774 nurses, of whom 1412 were from Poland and 362 from Slovakia. The original Nursing Risk in Pharmacotherapy (NURIPH) tool was used. The Cronbach alpha coefficient was 0.832. Results Nurses from Slovakia most often, i.e. for 6 out of 9 factors (items: 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9), assessed the risk factors as “significant risk (3)”, and Polish nurses most often, i.e. for as many as 8 out of 9 risk factors (items: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9), assessed the risk factors as “very significant (5)”. Significant differences (p < 0.05) were demonstrated in 8 (out of 9) risk factors. Conclusions The pharmacotherapy process implemented by nurses, regardless of the country, is burdened with a considerable number of risk factors and it might negatively affect patient safety. It has been found that the safety of the pharmacotherapy process is assessed by Polish nurses as much lower than by Slovak ones. Training activities in the field of adverse events, adverse reactions to medications and appropriate and effective communication should be introduced for all members of the medical staff involved in the pharmacotherapy process.