Nurse's Perspectives on Factors Related to Medication Errors in Neonatal and Neonatal Intensive Care Units

Medication and medication errors are very important in children، especially in neonates. This study is aimed to determine the factors related to medication errors in neonatal and neonatal intensive care units. In this descriptive study 119 nurses working in the neonatal units and neonatal intensive care units of 5 educational hospitals affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences were recruited by census. Data was collected by a demographic sheet and the Medication Administration Error questionnaire. Significant differences between the related factors of medication errors were determined by ANOVA-R. The mean and standard deviation was used to determine the amount of differences. Independent t-test and ANOVA was used to determine the correlations using SPSS-PC (v. 18). The finding revealed that the most influential factors in incidence of medication errors were related to the working conditions and transcription factors (P<0. 0001). The effect of each factor in incidence of medication errors was: communication factor (M=2. 91، SD=0. 7±0. 4)، medication packaging factors (M=2. 79، SD= 0. 7±0. 4)، transcription factors (M=3. 22، SD= 0. 94±0. 4)، work situation factors (M= 3. 3، SD= 0. 2±0. 4) and pharmacy factors (M= 2. 67، SD= 0. 79). Recognition of factors related to medication errors results in an attempt to decrease these factors and medication errors، and an increase in patient safety and promotion of the quality of care.