FREQUENCY OF MEDICATION ERRORS AND ITS REPORTING ACCORDING TO SELF- REPORT BY NURSES IN HOSPITALS OF KHOY CITY

Medication errors are one of the important challenges of health care systems
worldwide. It is also one of the threatening factors of patient safety. For this reason, medication error
rate is used as one of the patient safety indicators. The aim of this study was to determine the
frequency of medication error and its reporting, according to self- report by nurses in hospitals of
Khoy in 2011.
Materials & Methods: This study was a descriptive research. The study population included all
nursing staffs of Khoy hospitals (n= 350). A questionnaire was used to gather the data about the
perspectives of nurses on the frequency of medication errors and its reporting. Descriptive and
analytical statistical analyses were performed with SPSS 16 software.
Result:The frequency of medication errors and its reporting were 28.9% and 14.4%, respectively. The
most common types of medication error that reported were concomitant administration of oral drugs
with potential interaction (57.7%), wrong rate error (46.34%), and giving pain medications without a
physician's prescription (44.39%). There were a statistically significant relationship between
medication error rate and age group (p= 0.035). Medication errors occurred most frequently among
nurses with 20-30-years age. There were also a significant relationship among medication errors and
working hours (p=0.023) and participation in retraining courses (p= 0.033). There was a significant
relationship between medication errors and its reporting rate (p= 0.000).
Conclusion:According to our findings, reduction in medication errors can be achieved by reducing the
nurses’ work hours and holding retraining courses. In this study, a low report of medication errors has
been revealed. Establishing an efficient recording and reporting system of medication errors along
with minimization of barriers to reporting them may reduce the risk of medication errors