This research brief determines the relationships among characteristics of the nursing practice environment, nurses’ error interception practices and non-intercepted medication errors in acute care hospitals.
Background

• Medication errors remain one of the leading threats to patient safety.
• More than 7,000 inpatients die each year due to medication errors.
• Medication errors can originate from a variety of providers including physicians during the prescribing stage, pharmacists during the dispensing stage, support staff during the transcription stage, and registered nurses during the administration stage.
• Research indicates registered nurses (RNs) can serve as a safety net, intercepting medication errors before they reach the patient, regardless of the source or stage of the error.
• Yet, little is known regarding factors and processes that facilitate this important work of nurses.

Key Findings

• A supportive nursing practice environment was positively associated with nurses error interception practices.
• Nurses’ error interception practices were inversely associated with non-intercepted medication errors per 1,000 patient days.

Charts

• Chart 1. Effects of Practice Environment on Nurses’ Error Interception Practices
• Chart 2. Effects of Practice Environment and Interception Practices on Non-Intercepted Medication Errors.

Attachments:

Charts 1 and 2
Examining_Impact_Nursing_Structures_Processes_Medication_Errors