Abstract

Objective: To determine the magnitude of medication administration errors and their types among nurses working at tertiary care public sector hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
Methodology: An analytical cross-sectional study was performed at Dr. Ruth K.M. Pfau Civil Hospital and Dow University Hospital, Karachi from January to October 2018. It included 204 nurses of both genders having one year working experience and registered with Pakistan Nursing Council. Non-probability purposive sampling method was used. The data were obtained by adopted and validated questionnaire and was analyzed using SPSS version 21.
Results: Out of 204 subjects, 106(52%) were male and 168(82.3%) had age below 35 years. The frequency of medication administration error was found in 167(81.9%). Wrong time medication error was seen in 56(27.5%) nurses, missed dose in (43.1%) and in 103(50.5%) medications were administered with improper technique. Nurse who was assigned more than 15 patients committed [AOR=1.59, 95% CI (0.65, 3.90)] more errors and those working in night shift committed [AOR=2.32, 95 % CI (0.82, 6.54)] more errors.
Conclusion: There was high frequency of medication administration errors among nurses working at our institution. The most prominent type of medication administration errors were technique error followed by missed drug.

Key words: Medication administration error, types of error, nurses.