UNDERSTANDING THE CAUSES OF MEDICATION ERRORS AND PREVENTIVE MEASURES FROM THE NURSING PERSPECTIVE AT HUE UNIVERSITY OF MEDICINE AND PHARMACY HOSPITAL

Abstract

Background: This study aims to understand the causes of medication errors and their preventive measures from the perspective of nurses at Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital. Materials and method: Cross-sectional descriptive study, with the participation of 185 nurses and midwives from clinical departments in the hospital using a questionnaire. Results: 53.5% of nurses said that the workload was high, 52.4% of nurses said that the ratio of patient/nurse was high, had to take care of many seriously ill patients, 47% of the electronic system was prone to errors and the doctor's prescription was difficult to read had the highest impact on nurses' medication errors. 94.1% of nurses said that it was necessary to improve nurses' knowledge about drugs and to inform and educate about new drugs, 93.5% of nurses think that it was necessary to have necessary information about drugs, side effects and interactions available in clinical departments and 92.4% think that it was necessary to actively report medical incidents to learn and prevent recurrence to prevent medication errors. Conclusion: There should be appropriate human resource planning and regular training programs on drugs especially new drugs, necessary information on drugs, side effects and interactions should be available in clinical departments and increased reporting of medication errors is also an opportunity to prevent recurrence.