Approximately 20% of doses administered by nurses are thought to be in error. Safety specialists have claimed that targeting system related factors is potentially more efficient in reducing medication administration errors than interventions aimed at individual nurses’ factors. Distractions and interruptions are among the most often system related factors cited by nurses to explain medication administration errors occurrence. Results for descriptive studies do support nurses’ contention of being frequently interrupted during the medication administration process with nurses themselves being the most important source of interruptions. The evidence on the relationship between interruptions and medication administration errors is more limited. Studies performed in controlled environments did find a relationship between interruptions and task performance in terms of number of errors made and time required to complete the task. The same relationship has been seldom explored within the context of medication administration in natural settings and the results do not support the relationship. Caution should therefore be applied before intervening on interruptions considering that they may even play a positive role in nurses’ work like allowing sharing expertise. As evidence are sought to implement system level interventions aimed at reducing medication administration errors, interruptions and distractions are promising but their role needs to be more clearly understood.

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