5th PFMR Biomedical Research Symposium

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Research Title: 
What constitutes a medication administration error from a nursing viewpoint?
Country: 
Birzeit University, Palestine
Date: 
Thu, 2014-12-04
Research Abstract: 

Medication administration errors (MAEs) occur frequently in hospitalized patient settings. Currently, there is no consensus on a practitioner-led definition of MAEs or scenarios that represent MAE situations in hospitalized patient settings. This study was undertaken to reach consensus on a practitioner-led definition of MAEs and scenarios that represent MAE situations by a panel of expert nurse judges. Purposive sampling was followed to recruit a panel of expert nurse judges from major hospitals, nursing schools and universities in the West Bank. A total of 50 (n=50) nurses were invited to participate in this study. A two round Delphi technique was followed to reach consensus on a proposed practitioner-led definition of MAEs and a series of 61 scenarios representing potential MAE situations formulated into a questionnaire. Participants were asked to indicate the level of their agreement or disagreement with the definition or scenarios on a scale of 9. The panel comprised of 31 (62%) male and 19 (38%) female nurses. The mean age was 32.3 years (SD ± 6.6). Year of obtaining licensure as a practicing nurse spanned the range of 1990-2011 with mean experience of 9.45 years (SD ± 5.9). Participants agreed to accept the definition of MAEs in the first round (median score was 8 with interquartile range of 2). In the first round Delphi, consensus was reached to consider 36 (59%) scenarios and exclude 1 (1.6%) scenario as MAEs. The rest of 25 scenarios for which no consensus was reached were included in a revised questionnaire and forwarded to the panel members in a second round Delphi. Consensus was reached to consider 14 (23%) scenarios and exclude 2 (3.3%) scenarios as MAEs while the rest of 8 (13.1%) scenarios remained equivocal. Consensus was reached on a definition of MAEs by a panel of expert nurse judges and scenarios representing MAE situations in hospitalized patient settings. The definition and scenarios can be used in future epidemiology studies of MAEs in hospitalized patient settings which may permit comparability between different studies.