MEDICATION ADMINISTRATION ERRORS

Medication Administration Errors



Medication Administration Errors

Medication Error

Medication administration is a complex and time-consuming task, occupying up to one-third of nurses' time (Pepper, 1995). Because of the complexity of the medication administration process, there is much potential for error. Since nurses actually administer the medication to the patient, they often assume or are assigned responsibility for these errors; however, the actions of everyone involved in the system and the system design itself contribute to errors. (Reason 2005) While the literature has focused on error-reporting systems and ways to prevent errors, relatively little attention has been paid to why errors occur.

Human ...