Policy review demonstrates that workplace interruptions increase medication administration errors among nurses, highlighting targeted strategies to reduce distractions and protect patient safety.
Medication errors can occur at any stage of the medication process including prescribing, dispensing, preparation, administration and monitoring (Vincent et al 2009). Medication administration is acknowledged as a process in which patient safety can be compromised easily (Department of Health 2003) and it is argued that any distraction or interruption during medication administration can result in errors. This Policy+ reviews the contribution to medication administration errors of interruptions to nurses' work and considers how such interruptions can be reduced.
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Bennett et al. (2010) studied this question.
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