Implementation and evaluation of the medication management in nursing units of a university hospital by means of a quality improvement cycle

The aim of this study was to improve compliance with protocols for the correct handling and storage of medication, both in medication rooms and on resuscitation trolleys in order to reduce the level of adverse effects on inpatients. The most frequent adverse effects in healthcare are due to medicati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied nursing research 2016-02, Vol.29, p.148-156
Main Authors: Pérez-García, María del Carmen, Soria-Aledo, Victoriano, Collantes, Francisco
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Compliance
Critical incidents
Drugs
Health care
High risk medications
Hospitalization
Hospitals, University
Medication storage
Medication Systems - organization & administration
Noncompliance
Nurses
Nursing
Nursing care
Nursing Service, Hospital
Patient safety
Quality Improvement
Quality improvement cycle
Quality management
Resuscitation
Resuscitation trolleys
Safety
Side effects
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Summary:The aim of this study was to improve compliance with protocols for the correct handling and storage of medication, both in medication rooms and on resuscitation trolleys in order to reduce the level of adverse effects on inpatients. The most frequent adverse effects in healthcare are due to medication errors. Twenty hospital units were studied in 2012. Their medication rooms and resuscitation trolleys share the same medication supply system. Twelve criteria were evaluated and in the first assessment, corrective measures were implemented and criteria were evaluated again. In the first evaluation, the total amount of cases of noncompliance was 153 (65.38%). Seven corrective measures were implemented on the 6 criteria which accumulate 60% of the noncompliance cases. After that, 81 noncompliance cases (34.62%) were obtained. Almost all of evaluated criteria showed an improvement. Nine of the 12 criteria evaluated showed a statistically significant improvement in the second assessment. A quality improvement cycle is a useful tool to identify safety problems, related to management of medication rooms and resuscitation trolleys of nursing units. It is possible to identify and implement improvement measures without any additional cost.
ISSN:0897-1897
1532-8201
DOI:10.1016/j.apnr.2015.05.012