Pediatric [staff nurses]perspectives on safety practices for medication-use system adoption in critical care units

ABSTRACT

Medications are a great benefit to patient's lives for relieving pain or curing illness. Medications may be very dangerous if improperly used, moreover medications' safety is one of the highest priorities of nursing practice, a matter of considerable concern for all health team members. Medication errors produce a variety of problems for patients ranging from minor discomfort to substantial morbidity that may prolong hospitalization or lead to death and risk of litigation. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the medication safety measures used in every day practice. The study was conducted at the Pediatric Cairo University Hospital. All critical care units of the hospital were included in the study. A convenient sample consisting of all staff nurses [60] who are giving direct care and working three shifts were recruited. The tool used a socio demographic data sheet, and a "Medication Safety Measures Evaluation Tool for Nurses" developed by [American Hospital Association and Institute for safe medication practice 2002] to assess safety of medication in every day practice. It contains 10 domains with a total of [91] items representing safe medication use. The result of the study indicated that there is unsafe use of medication safety measures in majority of dimensions, also there is no significance difference between staff nurses demographic characteristics and unit type from staff nurses perspectives on medication use system safety. The study recommended establishes a clearly defined system and policies for drug ordering, dispensing, and administering. Avoid use of verbal orders whenever possible. Develop an educational program for all medical staff in calculating, prescribing, preparing, and administering medications for children, especially for nurses to develop and maintain pediatric medications knowledge base, and to know how to respond to medication error