MSN(c), BSN, RN
Joulia Skibinsky is a registered nurse with 25 years of experience. She had received a BSN (Cum Laude) from the Pacific Union College in 2005. She is currently working toward an MSN at Mount Saint Mary’s University, Los Angeles, with an emphasis on Nursing Education. She is also an adjunct clinical instructor at Accelerated BSN program at MSMU. Her nursing experience includes Home Health, Emergency Room, Med/Surg and Psych (ER and Inpatient). She decided to explore nursing perspectives on "Factors Contributing to and Preventing Medication Errors" because she would like to improve medication safety and to minimize the negative impact of medication errors on patients and nurses.
Joulia is an honor member of the Florence Nightingale Society and a member of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.
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"When we have done our best, we should wait the result in peace." Sir John Lubbock (1834-1913).
ABSTRACT
Title: Factors Contributing to and Preventing Medication Errors
Background: Medication errors remain a substantial problem in healthcare leading to high rates of mortality and morbidity, prolonged hospital stays, patient’s perception of low-quality medical care, impaired trust of patients and families, and low nurse job satisfaction rates.
Research Questions: The study addressed the following two research questions:
1) What do acute care nurses cite most often as factors contributing to medication errors?
2) What do acute care nurses cite most often as factors preventing medication errors?
Methodology: An online survey was created by the researcher based upon recent literature to measure nurses’ levels of agreement/disagreement to survey statement items about factors contributing to and factors preventing medication errors. Nurses who provided direct patient care and administered medications were invited to complete this online survey via Surveymonkey.com®.
Results: A total of 94 registered nurses volunteered to complete this anonymous online survey. The factors contributing to medication errors cited most by the nurse sample were being rushed while administering medications (M=3.09), failure to follow safety protocols (M=3.01), and interruptions (M=2.95). The factors preventing medication errors, cited most by the nurse respondents were a healthy work environment (HWE) (M=3.13), social support (M=3.11), and Nurse’s Rights (M=3.10).
Conclusion: To avoid medication errors, hospitals need to provide nurses with a safe, supportive, empowering, and interruption-free environment where Nurses’ Rights are maintained.
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