Aim: Aim of this study is to determine the levels of knowledge related with drug administration and drug administration errors of nurses who care for pediatric patients.
Material and methods: The study data were obtained from the nurses who were working in the departments of pediatrics in two education and research hospitals in the province of İstanbul and who accepted to participate in the study. The questionnaire form of the study was established by the investigators in accordance with the experiences and literature information. A total of 31 questions related with drug preparation, calculation and administration together with the general working properties of the individual were filled out by face to face interview. The data were evaluated using percent and chi-square tests. The study was initiated after ethics committee approval was obtained from Şişli Hamidiye Etfal Education and Research Hospital (365/2013).
Results: The study was conducted with 98 nurses who accepted the questionnaire. The education levels of the participants were as follows: undergraduate (48%), high school (32.7%), associate degree (12.2%), master's degree (6.1%) and postgraduate (1%). It was found that 88.8% of the participants worked in a patient-centered fashion and 11.2% worked in a work-centered fashion. The frequency of interruption/distraction during preparation of treatment was found to be 92.9%. It was found that the frequency of checking by two people during preparation or administration of high risk drugs was 64.3% and the conditions under which drugs should be kept were found to known correctly with a rate of 76.5%. It was found that undergraduate healthcare workers were more successful in converting units (p= 0.000). It was found that powder weight of drugs was considered with a rate of 85.7% in calculation.
Conclusions: Conclusively, it was found that nurses who worked in pediatric wards did not receive a standard education in terms of drug administration and preparation. It was found that undergraduate nurses were more successful in calculating doses, the process of drug preparation was interrupted with a rate of >90% and the rate of checking by two people was low.
Keywords: Pediatric nursing; drug administrations; drug errors.