Pharmacists and Nurses Perception of Medication Errors in a Nigerian University Teaching Hospital

Purpose: To investigate the type and frequency of all medication dispensing and administration errors as perceived by pharmacists and nurses respectively, and the factors associated with such errors in a Nigerian university teaching hospital. Methods: The study was conducted at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals, Ile-Ife and Ilesa, Nigeria. Data was collected by the use of pre-tested questionnaire administered to 35 pharmacists and a stratified sample of 130 nurses over a period of 2 weeks. The questionnaires were sorted and analysed. Results: The pharmacists that responded (80%) cited incorrect drug, incorrect strength of drug (70%) and wrong dose of drug (60%) as the most common dispensing errors. Fifty percent of pharmacists put the estimated frequency of occurrence of these dispensing errors at 1 per 100 prescriptions dispensed. Most of the nurses (65%) identified administration of wrong drug, administration of wrong dose (63%) and wrong time of drug administration (57%) as the most frequently occurring medication administration errors in the teaching hospital. All the pharmacists and 78% of nurses identified excess workload as the most important factor contributing to errors in medication dispensing and administration respectively. Conclusion: The fundamental factor perceived to be contributing to errors in medication dispensing and administration was excess workload resulting from insufficient members of staff. Keywords: Medication error, dispensing, drug administration, pharmacist, nurses, Nigeria