Nurses' role in medication safety

AIM: To explore the nurse's role in the process of medication management and identify the challenges associated with safe medication management in contemporary clinical practice. BACKGROUND: Medication errors have been a long-standing factor affecting consumer safety. The nursing profession has been identified as essential to the promotion of patient safety. EVALUATION: A review of literature on medication errors and the use of electronic prescribing in medication errors. KEY ISSUES: Medication management requires a multidisciplinary approach and interdisciplinary communication is essential to reduce medication errors. Information technologies can help to reduce some medication errors through eradication of transcription and dosing errors. Nurses must play a major role in the design of computerized medication systems to ensure a smooth transition to such as system. CONCLUSION: The nurses' roles in medication management cannot be over-emphasized. This is particularly true when designing a computerized medication system. IMPLICATION FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: The adoption of safety measures during decision making that parallel those of the aviation industry safety procedures can provide some strategies to prevent medication error. Innovations in information technology offer potential mechanisms to avert adverse events in medication management for nurses.