Medication administration error prevention among nurses working in intensive care units: A secondary analysis

Abstract

Background: The intensive care unit (ICU) brings together high-risk patients and interventions in a complex environment. Based on this consideration, medication administration error is the most common type of error that occurs in ICUs. Literature confirms that human factors (lack of knowledge, poor practices and negative attitudes) of nurses are the main contributors to the occurrence of medication administration errors in ICUs.

Aim: To examine and compare the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour scores on medication administration error according to nurses' sociodemographic and professional variables.

Study design: This is a secondary analysis of data from a cross-sectional international study based on a survey. Descriptive statistics were computed for all items of the questionnaire. Non-parametric tests (Kruskal Wallis and Mann Whitney U tests) were used to carry out the comparison between groups.

Results: The international sample consisted of 1383 nurses in 12 different countries. Statistically significant changes were seen in knowledge, attitudes and behaviour scores among several subgroups of the international population. Eastern nurses were more likely to show adequate knowledge about medication administration error prevention than Western nurses; concurrently, Western nurses were significantly more likely to show positive attitudes than Eastern nurses. No statistically significant differences in the behaviour scale were found in this study.

Conclusions: The findings show a difference between knowledge and attitudes in relation to cultural background.

Relevance to clinical practice: Decision makers in ICUs should consider cultural background when planning and implementing prevention strategies for medication administration errors. Further research is needed to investigate the effectiveness of educational systems on the decrease of the incidence of medication administration errors in ICU.

Keywords: cultural background; intensive care unit; medication error; nurses; prevention.