Nursing has traditionally viewed medication errors as a reflection of poor nursing practice or as a quality indicator. In industry high rates of error reporting are an indicator of a safety vigilant staff.  There is a paucity of studies in nursing that have examined medication errors to determine if medication errors are an indicator of poor quality or of a safety vigilant staff.

This study used a non-experimental, descriptive design to examine the relation between reported rates of medication errors and a nursing unit’s attitudes towards safety in an academic urban medical center. Nurses attitudes about a safety climate were measured using the Safety Climate Survey (SCS) tool with individual nurses’ responses combined to obtain a score for each nursing unit. Quality indicators (patient satisfaction, falls, pressure ulcers and complaint letters), workload intensity measures (case mix index and medication doses per patient) and staffing co-variates (vacancy rates, hours per patient day and new RN hires) were correlated to the SCS.

The lack of correlation between the QI and reported medication error rates suggests that medication errors are not a QI. Study units with low SCS report low numbers of medication errors. The factors that are correlated to medication error reporting are numbers of new nurses, case mix index (CMI) and doses of medications administered. SCS was negatively correlated to pressure ulcers.

The information from this study should provide support for Nurse Executives endeavoring to create a safety climate. Units that have high numbers of new nurses and high workload intensity (CMI and high numbers of medication doses) are vulnerable to medication errors and may need additional supports to ensure safety. Units that have a positive safety culture have fewer pressure ulcers.

See more of Nursing Leadership and Management Initiatives
See more of The 17th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice (19-22 July 2006)