Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the medication errors that the intern nurses witnessed during pediatric practice.
Material and Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted with 201 intern nurses who completed pediatric practice (5 weeks) between September 15, 2018, and June 15, 2019, in Gaziantep University Faculty of Health Sciences Nursing Department. The questionnaire form prepared by the researchers by examining the literature was used. Descriptive analysis (number, percentage, arithmetic mean) was used for the data obtained from the questionnaire form.
Results: It was determined that 42.8% of the intern nurses participating in the study witnessed medication errors. It was determined that 15.4% of the witnessed errors were giving the wrong dose of medication, 10.9% were giving the wrong drug, and 10% were giving to the wrong child. It was stated that 33.8% of the witnessed errors did not affect/reach the patient and 35.8% were not reported. According to the intern nurses, 47.3% of the medication errors that occurred in the pediatric clinic were due to the high workload of nurses in the clinic.
Conclusion: In our study, it was determined that almost half of the intern nurses have witnessed medication errors, the most common among them being wrong dose, wrong drug, wrong child, and wrong method. Most of the errors do not affect the patient, and reporting rate of the errors is low. The most important causes of medication errors are the high workload of nurses in the clinic and lack of communication.
Cite this article as: Bilsin E. Investigation of Medication Errors Witnessed by Intern Nurses During Pediatric Practices. Arc Health Sci Res 2020; 7(2): 116-22.