Nurses’ Perceptions of the Causes of Medication Errors: An Integrative Literature Review

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Peggy Hewitt Trent, Assistant Clinical Professor (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: Most nurses first hear the phrase “medication error” during their basic professionaleducation. Concern for jeopardizing patient safety by committing a medication error traditionallyhas been instilled deeply into student nurses. Medication errors are a very real and frighteningevent in health care, and they deserve the concern associated with them. A 2000 report by theInstitute of Medicine (IOM), which indicated 44,000-98,000 people die each year in hospitalsdue to medical errors, focused national attention on patient safety and awareness of potentialharm (Kohn, Corrigan, & Donaldson, 2000).Before the IOM publication To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System (Kohn etal., 2000), little published research existed regarding medication errors in nursing. A CumulativeIndex of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) search revealed only five researcharticles related to nursing and medication errors from 1995 to 1999. However, since the IOM’sreport, numerous studies have explored best practices for safer medication administration.Studies have evaluated medication reconciliation (Kramer et al., 2007; Nester & Hale, 2002;Varkey et al., 2007), the use of computerized physician order entry, (George & Austin-Bishop,2003), the use of medication protocols (Manias, Aitken, & Dunning, 2005), improvement ofnursing students’ math skills in order to reduce medication errors (Wright, 2004), anddiscussions of barriers to medication error reporting (Madegowda, Hill, & Anderson, 2007;Mayo & Duncan, 2004; Stetina, Groves, & Pafford, 2005; Ulanimo, O’Leary-Kelley, &Connolly, 2007).

Additional Information

Publication
MEDSURG Nursing
Language: English
Date: 2010
Keywords
medication error, literature review, medicine administration

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