The introduction discussed the prevalence of medication errors and examines nurse staffing strategies used to reduce the number of medication errors in community hospitals. An essential factor to consider is the cost of RN hours versus the cost of patient safety (Frith, Anderson, Tseng & Fong, 2012 p.293). The study purpose “was to examine the relationship between nurse staffing and the occurrence of medication errors on medical-surgical units” (Frith et al., 2012, p. 289). The researchers used a retrospective correlation design method. The data consisted of information from a community hospital database composed of 801 weekly staffing intervals and 31,080 patient observations from July 2008 to June 2010. The National Coordinating Council for
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The findings revealed that 335 medication errors occurred among the 31,080 patients over a 2-year period. Many of the patients were white (88%), with all other races included in the analysis. The male (47%) and female (53%) ratio were close to being equally divided. The average patient age was 66.72 (SD=15). The amount of RN hours per equivalent patient day (HPEqPD) revealed a mean of 6.61 (SD=0.42) and the LPN mean of 0.15 (SD=0.21). Administering medications (58%), transcribing orders (22%), and dispensing medications (17%) were the top three modes that contributed to the 97% of medication errors. There was forty-four percent of errors that occurred where there was no harm to the patient and 14% where patients have received the medication and required monitoring. Ultimately, the study showed that no deaths or cases where the permanent damage occurred from medication errors (Frith et al., …show more content…
Frith et al. (2012) found the most common errors were due to not following protocol, the omission of dose, and improper dosage. Also, the discussion supported the data that as the RN’s number of hours worked per day increase, the medication errors decreased. In contrast, as the LPN’s number of hours worked per day increased, the medications errors increased. Thus, indicating that adequate nurse staff is vital to improving patient safety to from medication errors. The study limitations were limited to one hospital site, and research has not definitively proven a relationship between RN staffing and medication errors and optimal level of RN staffing has not been identified (Frith et al., 2012). According to the Institute of Medicine (1999) study as cited in Frith et al. (2012), estimated that the cost at two billion dollars annually to treat preventable events related to medication
The findings revealed that 335 medication errors occurred among the 31,080 patients over a 2-year period. Many of the patients were white (88%), with all other races included in the analysis. The male (47%) and female (53%) ratio were close to being equally divided. The average patient age was 66.72 (SD=15). The amount of RN hours per equivalent patient day (HPEqPD) revealed a mean of 6.61 (SD=0.42) and the LPN mean of 0.15 (SD=0.21). Administering medications (58%), transcribing orders (22%), and dispensing medications (17%) were the top three modes that contributed to the 97% of medication errors. There was forty-four percent of errors that occurred where there was no harm to the patient and 14% where patients have received the medication and required monitoring. Ultimately, the study showed that no deaths or cases where the permanent damage occurred from medication errors (Frith et al., …show more content…
Frith et al. (2012) found the most common errors were due to not following protocol, the omission of dose, and improper dosage. Also, the discussion supported the data that as the RN’s number of hours worked per day increase, the medication errors decreased. In contrast, as the LPN’s number of hours worked per day increased, the medications errors increased. Thus, indicating that adequate nurse staff is vital to improving patient safety to from medication errors. The study limitations were limited to one hospital site, and research has not definitively proven a relationship between RN staffing and medication errors and optimal level of RN staffing has not been identified (Frith et al., 2012). According to the Institute of Medicine (1999) study as cited in Frith et al. (2012), estimated that the cost at two billion dollars annually to treat preventable events related to medication