The purpose of this study were to illustrate the various medication error types and causes and identified to related drugs to provide basic data for preventing nurses´ medication error by analysing 73 cases of AJN ´medication Error´ column(1993. Oct -2000, Nov).
Nurses´ types of medication error were classified into 7 types. The most frequent error types are wrong medication(21.9%) and the wrong dose(21.9%) together. The others are wrong time(4.1%), omission(2.7%), mechanical error(2.7%), incorrect IV rate(1.4%), wrong route administration(1.4%) in order.
Nurses´ causes of medication error were 9 kinds. The most frequent type is confusing between similar drug shape, color, size, name, injection devices and patient´s name(43.9%) and the others are lack of knowledge about drugs(26.8%), slips(7.3%), miscalculating dose(4.9%), incorrect adjusts devices(4.9%), difficulty to read or illegible decimal point(4.9%), abbreviation(2.4%), fatigue with overwork(2.4%) and no communication with patient (2.4%) in order.
Related drugs with medication error are as follows.
- dose unit(IU, minims, mcg/min, mEq) : Heparin, insulin, synthetic calcitonin, some enzymes and hormones, vitamins, some antibiotics, tuberculin injection, MgSO4 injection, nitroglycerin
- similar size, color and shape drug : 0.9% N/S and acetic acid 0.25% for irrigation, premixed 2mg lidocaine sol. and 0.9% N/S, gentamycin 20mg/2mL for children and 80mg/2mL for adult, dextroamphetamine 5mg and 10mg capsule, sedatives chloral hydrate 250mg/5mL and 500mg/5mL
- similar name :Aredia(pamidronate disodium) and Adriamycin(doxorubicin). Lamictal (lamotrigine) and Lamisil 250mg, Elderpryl and enalapril, cefotaxime and cefoxitin, carboplatin and cisplatin, sumatriptan and zolmitriptan, Celebrex and Celexa, Humulin and Humalog, Percodan and Percocet, Diabeta and Diabinese, Epivir and Retrovir, Xanax(alprazolam) and Zantac(ranitidine)
- decimal point : low molecular weight warfarin, methotrexate
- unfamiliar drug uses of familiar drug : methotrexate, droperidol, imipramine, propranolol
- number of drug name(misleading chemical name) : 6-thioguanine, 6-mercaptopurine, 5-fluorouracil
- type of administration route : Oxycodone(OxyContin).
- administration time : acarbose(Precose),
- injection way (Z-track method): hydroxyzine
- epidural cathether : LMWHs(enoxaparin, dalteparin),
- ADD Vantage self contained delivery system : ceftriaxone(Rocephin)
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