7/12/2007
- Ugur Akinci, Ph.D., Nurse-Recruiter.com
National Survey Reveals Nurses’ Concern
About Injectable Medication Errors
The results of a new national study should come as no
surprise to any seasoned nurse or healthcare worker. The
study found out that a great majority of the medication
errors arise from mislabeling of the safety syringes used
in hospitals and medical facilities.
The study which surveyed 1,039 nurses across the nation
was conducted by The American Nurses Association (ANA)
and sponsored by ANA and Inviro Medical Devices, a company
that caters to the $1.6 billion safety syringe market.
This insider’s look at the safety syringe practices
is crucial given the fact that 44% of the U.S. nurses use
injectable medication more than five times per shift. That’s
a lot of opportunities for error on a daily basis.
One overall result of the study stands above all others:
97 % of the nurses surveyed said they "worry" about
medication errors, and more than two-thirds (68 %) said
they believe medication errors can be reduced with more
consistent syringe labeling.
So the question arises: what is preventing the healthcare
professionals from applying “more consistent syringe
labeling”?
To understand that question, we need to look at the existing
syringe labeling practices.
An alarming 28% of nurses said they do not label the syringes
at all.
Of the remaining 72% who do, this is how they said they
do it:
* Writing on self-adhesive labels then applying to syringe
(54 %).
* Writing on pieces of tape and adhering to syringe (31
%).
* Using a Sharpie pen and writing directly on syringe (11
%).
* Writing on paper or sticky note and taping to syringe
(4 %).
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