Nurses' Experiences and Perspectives on Medication Safety Practices

This qualitative study explores the experiences and perspectives of nurses on medication safety practices. It highlights the significance of medication errors in the nursing profession and the role of nurses in minimizing errors. The study examines the impact of workplace environment and relationships on medication errors and safe care practices. It also identifies the barriers and facilitators of medication safety implementation.

Guided questions Answer Template (Please do not Remove the questions)
Guided Question Qualitative Study Quantitative Study
1. Aim and Significance
(5 marks 200 words)
a. What was the aim and
significance of the study?
The study by Smeulers et al., (2014),
assesses the nursing core issue of medication
errors. Medication errors are of significance in
the medical profession since it is associated
with significant costs on medical expenses. The
rise of medication errors tends to cause harm to
patients. Due to the high number of medication
errors, there have been increasing medication
safety practices. The study perspectives and
experiences of nurses are being investigated in
regard to patient safety practice. Knowledge on
the mediation safety practices is of the essence
in assessing the barriers and facilitators of its
implementation, thus the aim of the study
aimed at learning more about nurses experience
and perspectives on prevention of medication
administration errors.
The study by Sahay, Hutchinson & East (2015) focuses on
medication errors in the nursing profession. Medication errors
play a significant role in patient safety and health outcomes. It
has a negative impact on patient health care quality. In this
perspective, the role of nurses is fundamental in ensuring that
medical errors are minimized. In this view, graduate nurses are
often predisposed to such errors due to limited familiarity with
the working environment of the profession. This study aimed at
exploring self-reported medication errors and the establishment of
whether workplace environment support and relationships are
linked to medication errors or safe care practices in medication
practice.

2. Methods (10 marks
700 words)
a. Identify the
research design used
in the study and was
it appropriate for the
issue discussed?
Qualitative study
The study has adopted qualitative
explorative research design to collect the
perceptions and views of the nurses with
regards to the implementation of medical
administration practices guidelines. The
qualitative explorative design is essential in
gaining a deep understanding of the overall
reasoning and opinion and provides insights
into the special problem. It is further essential
for uncovering trends and through or opinions
and give a deep sense into the problem. The
design is typically characterized by the small
and lean respondent numbers in order to fulfill
the given quota. The study aims are to assess
the perceptions of the nurses and the best way
to adopt this is by use of a qualitative
explorative design which will asses thematic
views of the respondents and offers
The descriptive research design is essential in describing the
characterizing of the population of the phenomenon being
studied. Descriptive studies are more concerned with questions
relating to finding out ‘what is' which is being investigated in a
study. The underlying characteristics are essential in describing
the overall situation of the population which are descriptively
defined. This designed has low internal validity content thus not
applicable for establishing a causal relationship. The study fits
into the typical characteristics of descriptive design thus offering
the suitable design to be used in the study. It focuses on what
question making it the right design to be explored for this study.

consolidation of common thematic topics.
b. Discuss the sampling
technique, inclusion and
exclusion criteria used for
the selection of sample in
the study
The study used purposive sampling which
was geared at obtaining a high level of
heterogeneity. Purposive sampling is a
nonprobability method of sampling which is
based on the population characteristics and the
underlying objectives of the study. The method
is essential in reaching the target population
quickly and where the issue of proportionality
is not of concern. Heterogeneous nature
adopted is crucial in providing a wide range of
cases which are particularly relevant to
particular phenomena or event. It provides
much in-depth insight into a phenomenon.
Further snowballing was used to obtained
other participants who were from another
department so as to reach the target participants
number. Snow baling in qualitative research
entails the action of the other participants
recruiting other participants into the study. This
is beneficial when it is hard for the location of
The study used recruited respondents from the university
nursing student’s database of Australian University. The database
contained a total of 1425 nursing graduates. The study estimated
that 30% of the respondents still have active emails, based on this
a total of 427 possible respondents were obtained. The study
included the preview recent nursing students and those who were
able to still retain the emails accounts used in school. Online
surveys report a low response rate of about 20%-40% based on
the study justification, thus the recruitment process expected a
minimum threshold of 50 respondents. Those who did not
respond to emails invitation were automatically excluded from
the research.

other respondents in the study recruitment
process, thus making a suitable for the
respondents in this study. Inclusion into the
study entailed registration as a nurse while
those not registered as nurses were excluded.
The requisition was done by email until the
saturation level was reached.
c. Explore the data
collection method and its
appropriateness to the
research design of the study
The semi-structured interview offers an
avenue of asking rigors questions which allow
entry of new diseases to be brought up during
the session. The framework for questions is
utilized in the method. Questions asked in this
method entails more of open-ended questions
which tend to allow for discussion rather than
having straight forward interviewing process.
The semi-structured interview allows for usage
of a guide which is essential in ensuring that
the topics are focussed. This method is
appropriate in this study as it will solicit the
opinions of the respondents and offer guidance
on areas to focus during thematic assessment in
The study obtained an online survey tool from a website
hosted by the university and analyzed using Spss v20. The
descriptive statistics were run down on complete set so as to
identify missing data.

the study.
3. Data analysis and
results (10 marks 600
words)
a. How was the data
analyzed and was it
appropriate for the study?
The data was analyzed using a parallel
intervention process and usage of verbatim
software. The process entailed coding of the
interviews and coding criteria applied with the
usage of a code tree being obtained and used to
categorize the various topics identified in the
study. Consensus themes were reached after the
most relevant themes were identifies relating to
patient safety practices experiences by nurses.
This process was validated by two independent
authors so as to ensure themes obtained are
cleaned and represent the actual experiences in
the past.
Frequency distribution, mean and standard deviation were
obtained from the data and Spearman's correlation was obtained.
The linear relationship between nursing medication practices was
assessed with the graduate's nurse's workplace environment in
enhancing medication safety. Thus the choice of analysis suited
the purpose.
b.What were the
findings/results of the
study?
After interviewing 20 nurses, the study
identified three thematic areas. These entail the
nurse’s roles and responsibilities, the ability of
nurses to work safely in their daily duties and
The spearman’s correlation performed revealed that the
association between workplace and erosion of graduate safety
medication practices. Further analysis showed that supportive
factors entailed supportive NUM relationship and erosion and

the acceptance of safety practices. The nurses
are responsible for the safe preparation of
administering medication as they feel constant
assessment of patient condition state. The
nurse's ability to work safely during the
mediation process was influenced by risks
awareness of error and working environment.
The nurses offered various recommendations
and their perception with regard to acceptance
of patient safety, it was clear that safety
improves patient care and it was evidenced
based.
graduate safe medication, supportive team work, education and
learning were beneficial practices for graduate nurses in
minimizing medication errors. Unsupportive workplace behavior
entailed disruptive nurse behavior and disruptive nurse-physician
behavior was associated with poor medication safety on patients
among graduate nurses. Thus The spearman’s correlation tool
was able to identify that unsupportive environment face d b
nurses were inversely associated with medication errors of
graduate nurses and delineation of safe medication practices in
the graduate nurse practice profession.
c.Discuss the limitations
and recommendations of the
study?
The stud provided an opportunity to
identify thematic nurses perception with
regards to medication administration. Key
underlying thoughts and experience of nurses
were able to be explored in the study. The
study, however, was a university-based setting
and did not represent a larger setting for
generalizability, however, the findings were
similar to other studies undertaken. The key
recommendation based on the stud entails the
The study utilized access to the recent graduates of nurses
who played a key limitation to the study. The period upon the
student left school and tie of study could have an impact on the
reporting of the study since this limited the number of
respondents achieved. This low level of respondents might have
been impacted. Further the convenience of sampling did indicate
self-reporting and lack of information from nonresponders,
however, the minimum level for respondents for exploratory
studies was achieved which is set at 50. This could be linked to

focus on the extensive role of both nurses and
medication managers. Further interviewing
other stakeholders such as physicians and
clinical pharmacist plays a critical role in the
medication administration process. The
managers are recommended to value the work
of nurses in ensuring medical safety and
equipment of nurses towards knowledge
acquisition and leadership skills beneficial in
role play in their nursing practice.
biases and self-reporting recall biases.
The study recommends the cognizance of disruptive nursing
behaviors which affects medication administration practices.
Supportive NUM relationships play an integral part in it
influences the outcomes of graduate nurse safe medication
administration practices.
References
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.