Medication Safety and Education

Purpose: To identify medication errors reported by Portuguese nurses. 

Methods: A descriptive, mixed qualitative and quantitative study. The respondents were a random sample from the hospitals of the central region of Portugal. In this study was analyzed the first item of the questionnaire “Inappropriate nursing decisions and actions”

Results:  Fourteen categories were identified but only the category “Safe Administration of Medication” was examined with 511 recorded items. The most relevant medication errors were reported in the subcategories “Preparation of Medication” with 112 registered items and “Administration of Medication”, with 399. The highest percentage of reported errors in medication preparation referred to improper dilution (n=80: 15,66%) and incorrect selection of the prescribed drug (n=30: 5,87%). Errors of medication administration were primarily related to the incorrect selection of patients (n=322: 63,01%). 

Conclusion: The “Safe Administration of Medication” is the most relevant category that emerged from the reported errors. Education is relevant for nurses to introduce preventive measures. An active teaching methodology such as Problem Based Learning allows reflection on errors that were highlighted by the study. Using this methodology it´s important to focus on a problem situation and try to solve it by using best practice. The use of simulation is relevant for learning from errors. With this practice it will help professionals to prevent medication errors and therefore increases quality and patient safety.