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Medication errors: Perspectives of newly graduated and experienced nurses
Author(s) -
Unver Vesile,
Tastan Sevinc,
Akbayrak Nalan
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
international journal of nursing practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.62
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1440-172X
pISSN - 1322-7114
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-172x.2012.02052.x
Subject(s) - medicine , nursing , medication error , distraction , family medicine , patient safety , psychology , health care , neuroscience , economics , economic growth
This study investigated the perspectives of newly graduated and experienced nurses concerning medication errors. This is a descriptive cross‐sectional study conducted in a military education and research hospital in T urkey, which was performed between J uly and A ugust 2009. Totally, 169 nurses were involved in this study: 87 were new graduates and 82 were experienced nurses. The M odified G ladstone's S cale of M edication E rrors was used to collect data on rates, causes and reporting of medication errors. The two highest perceived causes of medication errors were nurse exhaustion and nurse distraction. Most medication errors were preventable errors. The reasons for error occurrence and failure to inform co‐workers of medical errors were examined. Implications: Training nurses to understand the causes of medication errors and related prevention methods should be provided to newly graduated nurses, and continuous training should be provided.