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Medication errors during drug administration represent a current issue in intensive care units due to the complexity of patients, the large quantity of drugs administered intravenously, the frequent prescription changes and frenetic activities in an emergency setting. The aim of this review is to increase knowledge about prevention and types of medication errors in intensive care units. The review was conducted using the following biomedical databases: PubMed, Cinahl, and Google Scholar. A total of 40 studies were considered useful for research purposes. Most studies showed a higher prevalence of medication errors in complex and intensive care settings. Although there are several different strategies aimed at preventing and reducing errors, available literature data show that a multimodal and multidimensional approach is required to make their use effective.

Aim: To describe which elements of nurses' knowledge, training, behaviour and attitude can prevent errors in intensive care units during all steps of the administration of intravenous medication., Method: An anonymous questionnaire made up of 43 items was drafted and delivered to a sample of 123 nurses at 2 university hospitals in Rome., Results: The majority of the sample (96.7%) stated that topics related to the preparation and administration of intravenous medications were covered during the basic nursing course. Just over 95% of the sample considered it important to improve their knowledge about preparation and administration of intravenous medications; 94.3% said that teaching about the use of intravenous medications should be enhanced during the degree course they attended and 91.1% agreed that specific postgraduate courses should be set up on the use of intravenous drugs., Conclusion: Pharmacological knowledge is a prerequisite for the proper administration of drugs and for the clinical evaluation of the effects on the patient. This knowledge implies the understanding of the theoretical and clinical principles of pharmacology, the ability to contextualise medication management according to the complex and changing needs of patients, and it also includes the appropriate skills of drug administration.

Aim: Medication errors are dangerous for the patients in an intensive care unit (ICU). Little is known about knowledge, attitudes and professional behaviour of nurses towards prevention of errors and clinical risk management can reduce errors during the preparation and administration phases of intravenous drugs. In this study we have evaluated the reliability and validity of the questionnaire to examine knowledge, attitudes and professional behaviour of ICU nurses., Methods: Reliability analysis was tested and content validity evaluated using Cronbach's alpha to check internal consistency with the intention to obtain no misunderstanding with the results. The questionnaire composed of seven sections for a total of 36 items, was administrated among ICU nurses working in a university hospital in Rome, Italy. Data were collected in October 2015. Statistical analysis was performed with the statistical software for Windows SPSS, version 22.0., Results: The questionnaire was administered to 30 ICU nurses' in anonymous, voluntary and self-administered form with close-ended type of questions, except for the socio-demographic characteristics. The highest value of Cronbach's alpha resulted on 19 items (alpha= 0,776) meaning that the questionnaire has a satisfactory internal validity. The study highlights that nurses (80%) are aware that appropriate knowledge on the calculation of medication's dose is essential to reduce medication errors during the phase of drugs'preparation., Conclusion: This study demonstrated that a short version of the questionnaire has very good reliability properties in the study and this needs to be taken into account for future studies.

OBJECTIVE: Medication administration accounts for 40% of the nursing clinical activity in hospitals and nurses play a central role in granting the patient safety, as they are directly responsible for the patient care. This review aims at analyzing the correlation between the clinical risk management and the occurrence of medication errors and the effects of the shift work (such as excessive fatigue and sleep deprivation after a shift in hospital) on inpatient nurses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This paper adheres to the relevant EQUATOR guidelines. A systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA statement and pertinent articles were selected based on inclusion criteria and quality assessment factors. Two reviewers searched the bibliographic databases PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, CINAHL to collect all the available articles in English and Italian issued between 1992 and August 2017. RESULTS: The reviewers analyzed 19 of the 723 initially extracted references, as they focused on the impact of workload, shifts and sleep deprivation on the probability of making medication errors. CONCLUSIONS: The main reasons behind medication errors are stress, fatigue, increased workload, night shifts, nurse staffing ratio and workflow interruptions. These factors can have a significant negative impact on the health and the performance of the employees. It is desirable to extend and deepen the research to identify appropriate measures to minimize medication errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]