ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE AND CAUSES OF MEDICATION ERRORS AMONG NURSING STUDENTS DURING CLINICAL ROTATIONS IN PUBLIC SECTOR HOSPITALS IN KOHAT

Abstract

Introduction: The problem of medication errors is one of the most important patient safety problems in the world today and also the most common preventable adverse events in the field of medicine. It is well known that the nursing students are very prone to making medication errors due to their limited clinical experience, lack of supervision, burdened work load, and lack of knowledge of medication safety. It is necessary to know the level of the knowledge about medication errors in order to be able to solve the problem.

Objectives: The purpose of the study is to assess the knowledge regarding medication errors among the nursing students during clinical practice in the public sector hospitals of Kohat.

Method: A descriptive cross-sectional study included 152 BS Nursing and Post-RN students using stratified random sampling. Structured questionnaires were analyzed in IBM SPSS 26 using descriptive statistics, t-tests, and ANOVA.

Results: Of the 152 subjects, 40.8% showed good knowledge, 47.4% had moderate knowledge, and 11.8% had poor knowledge about medication errors, with an average knowledge score of 8.1 ± 2.1 (of 12). The top items with the highest percentage of correct answers were patient identification prior to medication administration (96.7%), medication administration rights (95.4%), definition of medication errors (92.1%), and prevention of medication errors (90.8%). The least items included look alike / sound alike (LASA) medications (66.4%) and high alert medications (68.4%). The average perceived causes score was 39.8 ± 5.7 (of 50), reflecting high level of agreement with the listed contributing factors. The leading organizational factors were heavy workload (mean score of 4.48 ± 0.63) and understaffing (4.40 ± 0.68). Among individual factors, fatigue (4.42 ± 0.69), stress (4.31 ± 0.73), interruptions during administration of medications (4.36 ± 0.70), similarity of drug names (4.28 ± 0.72), and lack of supervision (4.19 ±.77). Scores for knowledge were found to have significant association with age (F = 3.92, p = 0.022) and clinical rotation (F = 6.11, p = 0.003), but not with gender (p = 0.240). Likewise, cause perception scores had significant association with age (F = 3.41, p = 0.036) and clinical rotation (F = 5.02, p = 0.008), but not with gender (p = 0.189).

Conclusion: Nursing students possessed moderate-good knowledge of medication safety issues, although there were deficiencies regarding high-alert and LASA medications. Workload, poor supervision, and clinical experience were significant factors in the area of medication errors.