Medication administration errors in a pediatric emergency department: A quality improvement project
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Authors
Armijo, Jessica
Issue Date
2020-05-16
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Abstract
Patients have an expectation of safety, yet medication errors occur every day. Conservative estimates suggest approximately one medication error occurs for each hospitalized patient daily (Bourbonnais and Caswell, 2014). The purpose of this quality improvement project was to identify the frequency at which the 7 rights of medication administration were violated and to create a targeted medication safety campaign for a pediatric emergency department to reduce the frequency of medication errors. The setting was a pediatric emergency department at an urban, free standing level 1 pediatric trauma center. Pediatric patients age 0-18 receiving medications from an RN or EMT in ED were randomly selected during pre/post data collection windows were included in the study. Direct observations were completed using a medication administration audit tool in the pre/post data collection. Between pre and post audits a unit-based safety campaign was launched targeting identification and verification of the 7 rights of medication administration with an aim to increase adherence with the 7R and decrease errors. Eighty-two direct observations (Pre N=42, Post N=40) were completed. Following the medication safety campaign, administration that did not meet compliance decreased from 14 to 7, medication errors decreased from 7 to 2, medications with no labels decreased from 11 to 7. The majority of medication administration errors occurring in the emergency department are related to the 7 rights of medication administration. The introduction of a safety campaign re-engaged, and empowered staff to increase verification of 7R of medication administration, leading to a decrease in the total number of events.
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Creighton University
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Copyright is retained by the Author. A non-exclusive distribution right is granted to Creighton University