[Risk analysis in the process of administering drugs in the emergency departments care: a multicenter observational study].

Mistakes in providing medication are amongst main problems in National Health Service. The literature shows that drug's errors administration occur much more frequently in emergency departments than in other care settings. Main objective is to identify most commonly mistakes, recorded in nursing clinical practice, occurring during drugs administration. A secondary objective is to identify factors that may contribute to errors and possible preventive measures. A multicentre survey was conducted, administering an anonymous questionnaire to 206 nurses of 7 wards of 4 health services in Lombardia and Veneto region of Italy. The self-compiled questionnaire is composed by 15 questions. Informations were collected by a third-party nurse. Responders to test were 150 (72.8%). Main results show that 81 nurses (54%) administered a wrong drug dose, as well as 80 health care professional (53.3%) gave one or more drug at a different time from what was prescribed. It was also found a statistically significant association between improper performance of diagnostic tests and health care professionals age. Moreover, a strong linear association between medication error reporting and nurses was found. Educating nurses about accident reporting system to enhance patient safety culture is highly recommended. Our results could be used in programs aimed to promote medication error recognition and reduce or eliminate barriers to communication.