Study of Confirmation Errors for Internal Use by Nurses

Abstract

Medication errors for internal use are one of the most serious issues of all malpractice cases by nurses. The greatest problem is involved with the failure of confirmation. So far, there are few reports which analyzed the factors related to the causes or the stages of malpractice occurrence. In this study, confirmation errors identified from the incidents reported in the government publication were categorized according to our own algorithm and analyzed to determine the contributing factors.

The findings were : Confirmation errors, which comprised 70% of all errors, occurred at the stages of confirming the acceptance of doctor's order, of checking the compatibility of nurse's planning with doctor's order, and of the compatibility of nursing action just prior to actual provision with the doctor's order.

The confirmation errors involved with the nurse's acceptance of orders, or with the nurse's actions as indicated above, in addition to confirmation involved with the nurse's evaluation of the validity of orders were categorized by five items of causal factors. A significant difference was observed between the distribution of the related causal factors and that of the entire items of confirmation. Preventive measures should be programmed at each confirmation process.