Perceived occurrence of medication administration errors among nursing students at a Higher Education Institution in Western Cape, South Africa

Abstract

The aim of the study was to determine awareness and perception of trends in the occurrence of medication administration errors (MAEs) among nursing students. A descriptive quantitative design was employed on two consecutive days and a self-administrative questionnaire was used to collect data. The validity and reliability of this instrument were tested and established by a pilot study. Responses were collected from 291 nursing students at a higher education institution (HEI) in Western Cape, South Africa. Non-probability proportional quota sampling was used and the data was analysed with IBM SPSS® software. The data was presented in graphs, percentages, means and standard deviation, while inferential statistics was applied. The findings of the study revealed that 85.2% of the respondents were aware of MAE occurrence. There was no significant difference between the respondents’ awareness of MAE occurrence and their year of the study. The significant (p-value < 0.05) subscale for the causes of MAE occurrence was the physician communication subscale (p-value < 0.001). Moreover, the respondents perceived the top item to be using abbreviations instead of writing out the prescription orders completely (p-value < 0.001, mean = 4.85). The respondents disagreed that the pharmacy related subscale and its items were causes of MAE occurrence. In conclusion, the nursing students who participated in the study were aware of MAE occurrence during their practice time. The causes of these errors as indicated by the respondents are mentioned in the article. Therefore, the healthcare institutions as well as HEIs must focus on treating these causes in order to reduce MAE occurrence and enhance patient safety.