Prevalence of intravenous medication administration errors: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundIntravenous medication administration errors (MAEs) may be accompanied by avoidable undesirable effects, which might result in clinical complications.ObjectiveThe aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of MAEs and to identify the factors associated with such errors.MethodsA hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted from March to April 2015. Data were collected by direct observation using a pretested data collection tool. Simple random sampling was used, and bivariate logistic regression model was used to identify the factors associated with MAEs. P value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultsA total of 134 patients were found to be eligible for the study. More than half of the study participants were males (76 [56.7%]). The rate of MAE was 46.1%, with the missed dose (n=162, 95.8%) being reported as the most common error. The age groups of 60–79 years (adjusted odds ratio = 2.166, confidence interval = 1.532–8.799) and 80–101 years (adjusted odds ratio = 1.52, confidence interval = 1.198–5.584) were the determinants of MAEs.ConclusionA high prevalence of MAEs was found. Enhancing the knowledge and practical skills of clinical nurses might minimize such errors.

The Magnitude of Medication Administration Errors among Nurses in Ethiopia: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

“…Omitted drug error: is failure to administer a prescribed medication, patient error: when a medication of one patient is wrongly given to another patient, dose error: when prescribed quantity is not administered, medication error: when another medication is administered to the patient other than the prescribed, time error: when there is a difference of greater or less than 30 min between the ordered time and administered time, unauthorized drug error: medication administered was not authorized by the prescriber, technique error: the nurse performs less than 50% among the procedure put at the technique competency checklist for medication administration, route error: when medication is administrated in different route other than the ordered actual route, documentation error: When medication that is administered to the patient is not documented in medication administration record sheet. [17][18][19][20]36,37 This review targets all nurses in Ethiopia. Studies, in which participants were drawn from overall health care professionals, were excluded; unless the studies were separately documented for nurses.…”

“…20,37 Type and magnitude of MAEs Regarding the types of MAEs, though the proportion of MAEs is varied for each type of error based on the number of rights used as a reference 26,27 definitions 46 and phases of medication administration process; [11][12][13] in this study, around thirteen different types of MAEs were identified such as: wrong route, wrong time, wrong patient, wrong dose, wrong drug, error of omission, wrong rate, documentation errors, duration error, technical error, unauthorized and without hand washing/change glove. [17][18][19][20]24,36,37 In each included study, five 18 up to eight 37 different types of MAEs were identified; though, one study reported only the overall result. 45 The most frequently reported type of MAEs were wrong time and wrong dose errors (n=6.7).…”

“…For example, in USA 67%, 14,15 in India 68.5%, in South-East Asia15-88% 16 and in Ethiopia it reached up to 89.9%. [17][18][19][20] In nursing, the medication administration process is a daily task account for around 40% of their working time 11,21 and nurses are the final safety check. 22 Due to this and professional, legal and ethical responsibility; nurses have a central role in the cause, identification and correction of errors.…”

“…13,[23][24][25] For the safety of medication administration; scientists, and expertise in the field developed standard or rights. 20,22,26,27 Nurses can decrease MAEs with the application of these rights; although, a number of factors such as: type of medications, policies and procedures, 4,[17][18][19]28,29 age of participant, work experience and working time/shift 13,[17][18][19]29 associated with MAEs. The impact of MAEs is huge on the life of patient: morbidity, mortality and length of hospital stay.…”

“…32 These adverse effect and its high prevalence is evidenced as studies from Western revealed; however, this is difficult to have a general concept in developing countries 33,34 like Ethiopia. This is not because of a low incidence of MAEs rather a result of (i) inefficient documentation or reporting of errors, (ii) insufficient research with inconsistent report [17][18][19][20] and (iii) lack of comprehensive systematic review and metaanalysis. The present study, address these reasons and showed the current available evidences for policy and decision maker and other researchers; therefore, this study aimed to assess the pooled magnitude of MAE among nurses in Ethiopia.…”