Iranian nurses’ medication errors: A survey of the types, the causes, and the related factors

Medication errors in hospitals are a major cause of the errors that disrupt the healthcare system. The aim of this study is to assess nurses’ medication errors and the related factors. This is a cross-sectional descriptive analytical study on 225 nurses in various hospitals, selected through the multistage random sampling. Data were collected using a five-part researcher-made tool, and a demographics, medication error, and related factors questionnaires. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, Kruskal-Wallis, and One-way analysis of the variance. Based on the results obtained, giving drugs to patients later or earlier (55.6%), giving multiple oral medications together irrespective of their interactions (36%), and administering the postoperative analgesic without a prescription (34.2%) constituted nurses’ medication errors. In addition, factors such as low nurse-to-patient ratio (57.3%), high load functions (51.1%), and fatigue caused by the extra work (40.4%) were the most important factors affecting the incidence of medication errors. Fear of legal consequences (40%) was the most important factor in nurses’ reluctance to report medication errors. Medication errors are caused by various, disparate factors. Strategies proposed in order to reduce medication errors include increasing the number of nursing staff and modifying their workload, effective management, increasing nurses’ knowledge in terms of drug administration and encouraging nurses to report medication errors in order to prevent their occurrence and promote patient safety. A safe reporting environment that encourages staff engagement to identify contributory factors, as well as possible solutions, must also be fostered.