Evidence and practice

Understanding the human and system factors involved in medication errors

Heather Gluyas Doctor of nursing and honorary research fellow, School of Health Professions, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia

Why you should read this article:

» To understand the human and system factors involved in medicines administration errors
» To disseminate strategies that yourself and your colleagues can apply to daily practice to minimise the likelihood of medicines administration errors
» To contribute to a positive safety culture by reducing the risk of harm to patients as a result of medicines administration errors through awareness of the types of error and factors influencing error proneness

Medication errors involving patients are a serious concern in healthcare practice. Nurses, more than any other healthcare professional group, are principally involved in medicines administration. This article recognises the complexity of why medication errors occur and considers the many factors involved, including those from an individual and organisational system perspective. It adopts a solution-focused approach, based on the evidence underpinning the knowledge of medication errors.

Nursing Standard. doi: 10.7748/ns.2018.e11176

Citation

Gluyas H (2018) Understanding the human and system factors involved in medication errors. Nursing Standard. doi: 10.7748/ns.2018.e11176

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind review and has been checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

heather.gluyas@gmail.com

Conflict of interest

None declared

Published online: 18 July 2018

Keywords :

drug administration - drug errors - medicines - medicines management - patient safety - patients