Exploring Nurses' Experiences in Preventing Medication Errors

This study explores the experiences and perspectives of nurses in preventing medication administration errors and the significance of the study in fostering safe medication practices among graduate nurses.

(125 words) Guided questions Answer Template (Please do not Remove the questions)
Guided Question Qualitative Study Quantitative Study
1. Aim andSignificance
(5 marks 200 words)
a. What was the aimand
significance ofthe study?
The study proceeds with the aim of exploring the experiences
and perspectives of nurses in preventing medication
administration errors.
Research on the experiences and perspectives of nurses in
preventing medication administration errors can be of critical
significance in fostering the implementation of safety practices in
clinical settings. The exploration of the levels of exposure of
nurses to opportunities such as medication education, e-
learning, double checking, administration of bar-coded
medication, interruption protection and use of visual reminders
plays an effective role in informing nurse leaders on the
effectiveness of their teams when dealing with medication errors.
The study by Smeulers, Onderwater, van Zwieten, and
Vermeulen, (2014) aims at investigating the effects of
workplace support and relationships in fostering safe
medication practices among graduate nurses.
Medication errors do not only lead to an increase in the
levels of mortality and morbidity but also impose
detrimental effects on the economy. According to Watson
(2015), graduate nurses are more likely to make
medication errors compared to other healthcare
professionals based on the fact that they lack the
experience needed to solve problems and discrepancies
in this sector. The study plays a significant role in
informing healthcare administrators on the importance of
inculcating a supportive environment for graduate nurses
to minimize medication errors.
2. Methods (10 marks
700 words)

a. Identify the
research design used
in the study and was
it appropriate for the
issue discussed?
A qualitative exploratory research design was adopted to
underscore the experiences and perspectives of nurses in
preventing medication administration errors.
A descriptive quantitative research design was
implemented to investigate the effects of workplace
support and relationships in fostering safe medication
practices among graduate nurses.
b. Discuss the sampling
technique, inclusion and
exclusion criteria used for
the selection of sample in
the study
The researchers conducted purposive sampling to investigate
the experiences and perspectives of nurses in preventing
medication administration errors. According to Sahay,
Hutchinson, and East (2015), purposive sampling plays an
effective role in fostering the attainment of higher degrees of
heterogeneity and broader viewpoints among the targeted
participants. Ideally, purposive sampling was implemented by
the use of e-mails to recruit participants occupying higher level
positions n their institutions such as quality and safety
innovators, nursing managers, and nurse ward managers.
On the other hand, Snowball sampling was implemented to
obtain nurse participants drawn from a wider array of
departments, professional experience, training and seniority.
For inclusion as a participant in this study, one had to be a
registered nurse. As a consequence, unregistered nurses were
excluded from the study.
Databases of recent graduates from nursing schools in
three Australian institutions of higher learning were
adopted to sample the desired study participants. The
scholars estimated that about 30% of the 1425 recent
nursing graduates could be accessed through their
university email accounts. Administrative staffs in each of
the three institutions were engaged to email the survey
link to the targeted graduate nurses without interference
from members of the research team. Moule, Aveyard,
and Goodman (2015) emphasize on the importance of
implementing follow-up activities as a way of increasing
the response rate of a survey. As a consequence, email
reminders were sent to the respondents three times after
every fortnight. Houser (2016) explain that online surveys
tend to report a response rate ranging between 20
percent and 40 percent. However, a total of 58

respondents completed the survey.
For inclusion as a participant in the survey, one had to be
a recent graduate from the three Australian universities
considered.
No exclusion criterion is provided by the scholars.
c.Explore the data
collection method and its
appropriateness to the
research design of the
study
The study adopted semi-structured individual interviews to
foresee the process of collecting data. According to Hussein
(2015), semi structured interviews are of critical significance
based on their inherent capabilities to avail scholars with an
ample opportunity to collect focused, qualitative textual
information. On the other hand Ingham-Broomfield (2015)
explain that semi structured interviews play a significant role in
availing researchers with the opportunity to balance between the
flexibilities availed by open-ended interviews and focus
presented by constructive ethnographic surveys. As such, the
semi-structured interviews adopted for this study were of critical
essence in allowing the respondents to express their views with
structured guidance.
The participants were exposed to a topic list adopted from Grol
and Grimshaw (2003) and Grol and Wensing (2004). In their
views, the researchers propose that there is need for proper
identification of barriers and facilitators when initiating any form
In the initial stage, the quantitative article conducted a
literature search to develop a survey instrument from peer
reviewed and published articles in databases such as Pub
med, Cochrane, Proquest, CINAHL and Medline.
However, the five data bases surveyed did not avail a
valid and reliable instrument to study the variables under
investigation. As a consequence, the researchers created
a questionnaire based on the literature review. According
to Ingham-Broomfield (2015), literature review plays an
essential role in allowing the scholar to undertake a
critical assessment of the sources applied in previous
researchers and their degrees of relevance to the current
study. Further, the scholars explain that literature review
plays an essential role in fostering ample demonstration
of a scholar’s knowledge in the field of study that includes
the variables, theories, methods and phenomena. As
such, Smeulers et al. (2014) made use of the literature

of change in clinical practice. As a consequence, clinical practice
barriers and facilitators in the dimensions of institutional
innovations, attributes of the professionals and the underlying
social and institutional contexts were incorporated as part of the
original topic list. The interviewees were asked to reflect on
different healthcare safety practices.
review identify the items to be included in the survey.
The ultimate survey composed of 86 items aimed at
identifying issues such as identification of the types of
medication errors encountered techniques of reporting
medication errors, safe medication practices and nature
of support and relationships ant the workplace. The
survey was conducted online among 58 respondents.
3. Data analysis and
results (10 marks
600 words)
a.How was the data
analysed and was it
appropriate for the study?
The scholars adopted the MAQDA10 software to foresee the
processes of analysing the data obtained through the
administration of semi-structured interviews among the
participants. The scholars explain that the procedure applied to
foster data analysis was in line with the qualitative research
design interviewing process proposed by A.O and MS
(quali0000). To attain higher levels of efficiency, the interviews
were coded in an independent way then compared and
discussed to initiate the processes of forming a coding tree. The
most applicable themes related to the experiences and
perspectives upheld by nurses on the issues of medication
The researchers adopted the Qualitrics online platform to
foster the processes of downloading the data obtained
through the survey. De Chesnay (2016) explains that
Qualtrics is one of the most efficient online databases
applied by institutions to aid in the processes of
downloading confidential data. Version 20 of Statistic
Package for Social Scientists was applied to foresee the
processes of analysing the survey data obtained from the
university websites of the institutions considered for this
study.

administration errors were identified and recorded based on the
proceeds of the consensus meetings undertaken. In the final
stage, sorting and analysis of the text segments was conducted
by considering the themes identified by the researchers. On the
other hand, the researchers adopted two co-authors to foster the
processes of verifying the peer-reviewed results. Overall, the
methods adopted to analyse data are highly relevant to the
study.
On the other hand, the researchers run the descriptive
statistics for completion and identification of the missing
data. The mean, standard deviation and Spearmen’s
correlation analyses were calculated after the frequency
distributions. The method of analysis adopted by the
researchers was highly applicable in meeting the
objectives of the study.
b.What were the
findings/results of the
study?
The study identified three major themes as its primary findings.
First, the researchers reveal that clinical reasoning plays an
effective role in fostering reduction in the number of medication
errors. Therefore, nurses need to develop clinical reasoning
techniques a part from their routing roles of preparing and
administering medicines.
Second, the workplace circumstances and initial knowledge of
risk plays a critical role in influencing a caregiver’s ability to work
safely.
Third, the issues of feasibility, the underlying advantages, and
appropriateness of the safety practices in question play an
essential role in fostering nurse’s acceptance.
The results of the study established that medication errors
and erroneous medication activities resulted from
unsupportive workplace environments. On the other hand,
supportive working relationships and supportive nursing
leadership were identified as the primary enablers of safe
medication practices among graduate nurses.
c.Discuss the limitations
and recommendations of
The fact that the researchers adopted a single-centre study
acted as a limitation in fostering generalizations in the results of
The method applied to access the former graduates acted
as a great limitation. There are tendencies that most of

the study? the study. However, the scholars put a lot of emphasis on the
importance of recognizing the importance of clinical reasoning in
fostering medication safety in clinical settings.
the graduates had limited access to their former email
addresses. On the other hand, the researchers’ move to
adopt convenience samples could have led to biases in
the results obtained. However, the scholars recommend
on the effectiveness of adopting nurse educators to foster
the transition of previously acquired skills into clinical
practice.
References
De Chesnay, M. (Ed.). (2016). Nursing Research Using Case Studies: Qualitative Designs and Methods in Nursing. Springer Publishing Company.
Holloway, I., & Galvin, K. (2016). Qualitative research in nursing and healthcare. John Wiley & Sons.
Moule, P., Aveyard, H., & Goodman, M. (2016). Nursing research: An introduction. Sage.
Houser, J. (2016). Nursing research: Reading, using and creating evidence. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Hussein, A. (2015). The use of triangulation in social sciences research: Can qualitative and quantitative methods be combined?. Journal of
comparative social work, 4(1).
Ingham-Broomfield, R. (2015). A nurses' guide to qualitative research. Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, The, 32(3), 34.
Sahay, A., Hutchinson, M., & East, L. (2015). Exploring the influence of workplace supports and relationships on safe medication
practice: A pilot study of Australian graduate nurses. Nurse education today, 35(5), e21-e26.
Smeulers, M., Onderwater, A. T., van Zwieten, M. C., & Vermeulen, H. (2014). Nurses' experiences and perspectives on
medication safety practices: an explorative qualitative study. Journal of Nursing Management, 22(3), 276-285.
Watson, R. (2015). Quantitative research. Nursing Standard (2014+), 29(31), 44.