Intravenous Medication Administration Errors and Their Causes in Cardiac Critical Care Units in Iran

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The dangerous events caused by medication errors are one of the main challenges faced in critical care units. The present study was conducted to determine the frequency of intravenous medication administration errors and their causes in cardiac critical care units in Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS The present descriptive study was conducted in the critical care units (CCUs and cardiac surgery intensive care units) of 12 teaching hospitals. Of the total of 240 nurses working in these departments, 190 participated in the present study. The data collection tools used in this study included the "nurses' demographic data questionnaire", the "patients' medical and demographic data questionnaire" and the "nurses' self-reporting questionnaire about the frequency of intravenous medication administration errors and their causes". The data obtained were analyzed in SPSS-20 using descriptive statistics such as the absolute and relative frequency. FINDINGS During the 2 months in which this study was being conducted, 2542 patients were admitted to these departments and 20240 doses of intravenous medications were administered to these patients. The nurses reported 262 intravenous medication administration errors. The most common intravenous medication error pertained to administering the wrong medication (n=71 and 27.1%). As for the causes of intravenous medication administration errors, 51.5% of the errors were associated with work conditions, 24% with packaging, 13.4% with communication, 9.9% with transcription and 1.2% with pharmacies. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION According to the results, strategies are recommended to be adopted for reducing or limiting medication errors, such as building a stronger pharmacology knowledge base in nurses and nursing students, improving work conditions and improving communication between the nurses and physicians.