Assessment of the rate and etiology of pharmacological errors by nurses of two major teaching hospitals in Shiraz

Medication errors have serious consequences for patients, their families and care givers. Reduction of these faults by care givers such as nurses can increase the safety of patients. The goal of study was to assess the rate and etiology of medication error in pediatric and medical wards. This cross-sectional-analytic study is done on 101 registered nurses who had the duty of drug administration in medical pediatric and adults’ wards. Data was collected by a questionnaire including demographic information, self report faults, etiology of medication error and researcher observations. The results showed that nurses’ faults in pediatric wards were 51/6% and in adults wards were 47/4%. The most common faults in adults wards were later or sooner drug administration (48/6%), and administration of drugs without prescription and administering wrong drugs were the most common medication errors in pediatric wards (each one 49/2%). According to researchers’ observations, the medication error rate of 57/9% was rated low in adults wards and the rate of 69/4% in pediatric wards was rated moderate. The most frequent medication errors in both adults and pediatric wards were that nurses didn’t explain the reason and type of drug they were going to administer to patients. Independent T-test showed a significant change in faults observations in pediatric wards (p=0.000) and in adults wards (p=0.000). Several studies have shown medication errors all over the world, especially in pediatric wards. However, by designing a suitable report system and use a multi disciplinary approach, we can be reduced the occurrence of medication errors and its negative consequences.