Factors contributing to incidents in medicine administration. Part 2.

The lack of empirical research on nurses' views of the factors contributing to medication errors, and particularly of studies conducted in the UK, formed the starting point for this study. Part 2 of this two-part article aims to inform the wider nursing population about the views of nurses working in the medicine directorate of a large London teaching hospital, and to explore the reporting of medication incidents and the effect of this on the practice of the nurses involved. Quantitative results of a self-administered questionnaire indicated that this group of nurses felt that the most important factors contributing to medication incidents were interruptions by patients and relatives/visitors and telephone calls during the process of administration. Suggested ways of reducing errors were 'protected' medicine rounds, unique or distinct packaging of medications and regular revision sessions on mathematical calculations. These nurses' views confirmed that factors identified in the literature as contributing to medication incidents were problematic for them too. Simple changes to practice could help to reduce the number of such incidents.