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Running head: TOPIC SEARCH STRATEGY 2

TOPIC SEARCH STRATEGY 2

Topic Search Strategy

Clinical Question

Medical errors are a serious healthcare issue, which is a leading cause of death in the US. According to Pham et al. (2012), about 98,000 deaths that occur in the Us every year is as a result of medical errors in the healthcare settings. The causes of this problem are difficult to uncover, and when they are found, it is also difficult to provide a solution that minimizes its recurrence. Nurses play a crucial role in enhancing patient safety through monitoring and interception of medical errors that may cause harm to the patients. The most common forms of medical errors reported occur in the process of medication administration, and they include documenting and monitoring patient’s condition, prescription, dispensing, and transcription errors (Hayes et al., 2015). Medication administration is prone to medical errors, and interruptions in this process increase the likelihood of occurrence of errors. Interruptions lead to errors that increase the risk of patient harm, the length of hospital stay, and healthcare costs; thus, there is a need for safety intervention strategies to reduce interruptions.

Studies have revealed that nurses have little time to pay attention to medication administration because of frequent and short interruptions. According to Flynn et al. (2016), the common source of interruption among the nursing staff is seeking assistance or information about patient care from other healthcare providers. Other forms of interruptions include frequent phone calls, conversations unrelated to medications, and inaccessible medical supplies and equipment. Besides, Hayes et al. (2015) state that nurses engage in medication administration for about 16 to 40% of their time. Thus, the way interruptions are managed in the medication administration process impacts the ability of the nurses to deliver safe and effective care to the patients. On the other hand, the study by Cheragi et al. (2013) indicated that 64.55% of the nurses reported medication errors, while 31.37% of them are on the verge of a medication error. The study also reported a mean incidence of medication errors to be 7.4 for each nurse in three months. The findings from these studies indicate that medication errors often occur in the nursing practice due to interruptions and suggest the need to utilize safety interventions to limit interruptions, especially during medication administration.

Elimination of medication errors was the source of the PICO question, “For the nurses taking care of patients in healthcare settings, how can safety interventions as compared to no intervention reduce medication errors?” This paper aims at finding out how safety interventions can help in reducing medication errors, which is common among nurses during medication administration.

Search Strategy

The strategy utilized when looking for an article was to get an article that has a high level of evidence and relevant to the PICO question. Using the Chamberlain University Library, I search through various databases, including PubMed and Medline. The search was achieved by turning the PICO question into a research topic. For instance, the research topic used is “Safety interventions to reduce medication errors in nursing practice.” The search terms that I used to search for the article that answers the PICO question include medication errors, safety interventions, nursing errors in healthcare settings, and medication administration. The initial search using the key words gave 543 results. I did an advanced search by putting limits on my search, such as searching for articles published from 2015 to 2020, having full text available, and peer-reviewed. This criterion gave me a more narrowed search that is appropriate for this assignment and gave 17 results. From the 17 results, I chose one article, which is a study by Flynn et al. (2016). This article has a manageable number of pages; hence, information can be extracted within a short time. Also, the article is rich in information that helps answer the PICO question.

Level of Evidence

The type of research question being asked is a prognosis question. A prognosis question determines a course over time (safety intervention) and provides a guess to the expected outcome (reduce the medication errors). The question is asking the effectiveness of safety interventions in the reduction of medication errors in nursing care in healthcare settings. Various safety interventions can be taken by nurses to reduce medication errors. This question can be answered through cohort studies because it involves participants making observations before coming up with an outcome in question. Flynn et al. (2016) noted that medication errors occur in medication administration as a result of interruptions, and the implementation of evidence-based strategies aiming to reduce interruptions will promote patient safety. This is a mixed-method study conducted through direct observation of nurses on two progressive cardiac care units. The quantitative data gathered in the research provide accurate evidence on the incidences of medication errors and the effectiveness of the safety interventions. Based on the evidence hierarchy, this study by Flynn et al. (2016) provides level 5 evidence, and thus, they are becoming more reliable.

References

Cheragi, M. A., Manoocheri, H., Mohammadnejad, E., & Ehsani, S. R. (2013). Types and causes of medication errors from nurse’s viewpoint. Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research, 18(3), 228–231. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3748543/#:~:text=While%20a%20great%20number%20of

Flynn, F., Evanish, J. Q., Fernald, J. M., Hutchinson, D. E., & Lefaiver, C. (2016). Progressive Care Nurses Improving Patient Safety by Limiting Interruptions During Medication Administration. Critical Care Nurse, 36(4), 19–35. https://doi.org/10.4037/ccn2016498

Hayes, C., Jackson, D., Davidson, P. M., & Power, T. (2015). Medication errors in hospitals: a literature review of disruptions to nursing practice during medication administration. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 24(21–22), 3063–3076. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.12944

Pham, J. C., Aswani, M. S., Rosen, M., Lee, H., Huddle, M., Weeks, K., & Pronovost, P. J. (2012). Reducing Medical Errors and Adverse Events. Annual Review of Medicine, 63(1), 447–463. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-med-061410-121352

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