Medication errors in intravenous drug preparation and administration

Medications given via the intravenous (IV) route provide rapid drug delivery to the body. IV therapy is a complex process requiring proper drug preparation before administration to the patients. Therefore, errors occurring at any stage can cause harmful clinical outcomes to the patients, which may lead to morbidity and mortality. This was a prospective observational study with the objectives to determine whether medication errors occur in IV drug preparation and administration in Selayang Hospital, determining the associated factors and identifying the strategies in reducing these medication errors. 341 (97.7%) errors were identified during observation of total 349 IV drug preparations and administrations. The most common errors include the vial tap not swabbed during prepreparation and injecting bolus doses faster than the recommended administration rate. There was one incident of wrong drug attempted. Errors were significantly more likely to occur during administration time at 8.00am and when bolus drugs were given. Errors could be reduced by having proper guidelines on IV procedures, more common use of IV infusion control devices and by giving full concentration during the process. Awareness among the staff nurses and training needs should be addressed to reduce the rate of medication errors. Standard IV procedures should be abided and this needs the cooperation and active roles from all healthcare professionals as well as the staff nurses.
Study site: Hospital Selayang, Kuala Lumpur