Nursing students drug dose calculation skills and drug administration errors

6^th World Nursing and Healthcare Conference

August 15-17, 2016 London, UK

Nihal Taskiran, Dilek Sari and Ayse Akbiyik

Ege University, Turkey

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Nurs Care

Abstract :

Aim: This descriptive study was conducted with the aim of determining the drug dose calculation skills of first-year nursing students, and the errors which they make in drug administration. Method: The study was performed in the academic year 2014-2015 with first-year nursing students at a health college in the province of Aydin, Turkey. Data collection was done by means of a Personal Information Form, a Drug Dose Calculation Skills Questionnaire, and a Questionnaire on the Status and Frequency of Drug Administration Errors. In evaluating the data, numerical and percentage distributions were used. Results: According to their statements, only 32.8% of the nursing students in the study signified their skills in calculating drug dosage as adequate, 46.8% of the students gave all correct answers to problems on drug dose calculation. The students in the study stated that the first three drug administration errors which they had committed with the highest rate were administering a drug without explaining to the patient (37.2%), administering a drug prepared by someone else to a patient (32%), administering a drug without checking the patient�s allergy status (30.4%). The least reported mistakes were administering drugs that were out of date (10.4%), not administering drugs to the right patient (11.2%), administering drugs to the eye or ear with the wrong technique and administering drugs using non-sterile ingredients (11.6%). The proportion who thought that education on drug dose calculation was clear and comprehensible was 46%. Conclusion: It was determined in this study that more than half of nursing students were inadequate in calculating drug dose and administering drugs.

Biography :

Ayse Akbiyik is a Research Assistant in Ege University Faculty of Nursing. Currently, she is a Master’s degree PhD student at Department Fundamentals of Nursing in Nursing Faculty and Department Pharmaceutical Microbiology in Faculty of Pharmacy. She has been working on healthcare-associated infections, prevention and control of healthcare-associated infection.

Email: ayseakbyk@hotmail.com