National Survey Reveals Nurses Concern About Injectable Medication Errors

Posted on April 16, 2008 in Health and Fitness by admin

The results of a new national study should come as no surprise to any seasoned nurse or healthcare worker. The study has found out that a great majority of the injectable 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 the nurses surveyed admitted 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 %).

So it is clear that syringe labeling persists as a source of medication error that can be corrected easily by using syringes with built-in writing strips on their barrels.

U. Akinci is the Editor of the monthly “Nurse Recruiter Newsletter” published by http://www.nurse-recruiter.com, the nation’s premiere travel nurse staffing agency.

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