Nurses’ perceptions of medication errors and their contributing factors in South Korea

AIM: The aim of this study was to identify Korean nurses' perceptions of medication errors. BACKGROUND: Knowing nurses' perceptions of medication errors is important in developing prevention strategies for medication errors. METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive survey was conducted. A convenient snowballed sample of 220 nurses from seven hospitals was obtained. Participants were asked to identify contributing factors of medication errors, reporting and strategies to prevent medication errors. RESULTS: A total of 224 of 330 (67.9%) questionnaires were returned. Over half (63.6%) of the participants had been involved in medication errors once or more in the past month. For factors contributing to medication errors, 99 nurses (45.0%) answered 'advanced drug preparation and administration without rechecking'. Only 13.5% of participants informed patients and their families of medication errors and 28.3% of participants submitted an incident report. Medication errors occurred most often during the day-shift. CONCLUSIONS: Developing strategies to reduce nurses' fear of punishment and supporting nurses' attitudes in a constructive manner are needed. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Effective strategies for nursing are needed, particularly during the day-shift, and during routine medication administration. In addition, non-punitive reporting systems of medication error should be established and patients should be included in reporting.