Factors Affecting Medication Errors among Staff Nurses: Basis in the Formulation of Medication Information Guide

Medication errors seriously affect patient safety, hospital costs and integrity of nursing profession. Proper understanding of the contributing factors that increase medication errors is the first step toward preventing them. The study is quantitative descriptive using researcher-made questionnaire. Total enumeration was used and there are 210 nurses participated in the study. The data were statistically treated using frequency, percentages, average weighted mean, one way ANOVA, and Pearson r-correlation. Based on the key findings of the study, it found out that professional factors is the number one cause of medication errors, followed by managerial factors, work-related factors, and lastly personal factors. Furthermore, there were identified significant differences between the respondents profile, competency level, and factors affecting medication errors. There was a very-low correlation between respondent’s competency level and factors affecting medication errors. In conclusion, the longer the hospital experience and the proficient a nurse is in the standards of care on medication management, the higher is the ability of the nurse to handle factors affecting medication errors. The researcher recommended utilization of medication information guide for nurses, self-report logbook, and enhanced course syllabus in Nursing Pharmacology. Keywords - Medication, medication errors, factors, patient safety, self-report, nurse, competency, cause