Interrupting a Nurse Makes Medication Errors More Likely - Page 3

I hope you told the management thank-you for noticing- that was the point of the sign!
I hate to be interupted when passing meds, or any patient care. When I get done we can talk about your problems with your delinquent teenager or your crazy spouse, but when I'm doing "nursing" shut-up and let me concentrate. Perhaps I'm not very bright and it takes me more of my mental capacity to do basic nursing. I'm glad the study finds I'm not the only one with that problem.

I think this is also related to staffing ratios. You can make rules about not interrupting nurses at medcarts or put sashes, signs, or traffic cones on their heads all you want, but it is the total workload of the nurse that drives whether the signs and rules can be obeyed.

Agree 100%! Staffing is the main factor in the difference between the expectations of management and what is actually possible for nursing staff to accomplish. 30 or more patients, 2 nurses that arrive at 7p for evening shift, and hs meds need to be passed by 9? All this after count, shift report, and about 100 interruptions in between? And a threatening memo from administration regarding patient complaints that meds are not getting out on time and failure to do so will result in disciplinary action. The patients absolutely should receive their meds in a timely manner, I would never dispute that. We hit the ground running to get them out on time but it's a challenge, and it's clearly not a good idea to rush through a med pass....so something's gotta give here.

Doesn't work with us but productive ward were it originates from suggest it one of a few work flow design options.
part of the problem is timing another department like xray don't know it med time but they need to speak to the nurse.
our radiology department now ask for infection control status, if the pt needs a drip stand, oxygen so that theses will be provided during transport, EWS(an assessment of how stable a pt vitals are) and falls assessment if a pt is to go on a chair.
We are improving our handover and report sheets to in include more of these but often it easier for the nurse to go to the phone than the ward clerk to have to go back and forth.

We are increasing our red outline around the Omnicell med center because the nurses drifting out of the box and people are talking to them. A large Quiet Zone sign has also been place with some success. But it is up to the culture of the hospital and nurses to institute change. A med safety fair just showed that only 20% of the double check of high risk medications were accurate. We called it "drive by double checking". This is our new push for medication safety. The second check is as important as the medication issuer. The medication safety fair also made us realize that most med errors are not reported because the nurse doesn't realize the error has even occurred unless the patient has had a significant reaction. Just think of how many lives can be saved with some diligence on every nurses part. It never takes too much time to give the right medication in a safe manor.

Shocking!! lol, seriously, how much money was wasted on figuring this out.

I'll be printing copies of this article and dropping in strategic areas such as Physician lounges.

The constant interuptions Nurses experience is a major factor in medical errors, phone calls, family questions, doctors inquiries all contribute to the interuptions that lead to errors. Med host and med carts are also centrally located and have no barriers so that nurses can prepare meds in a quiet, no distraction atmosphere.

Staffing also an issue, Nurses are constantly called away while preparing meds because a patient needs help to the bathroom or a bedpan or a glass of water.

Yet another attempt at micro managing nursing.
Nursing is the hub of the hospital wheel and every spoke is reaching out to take a piece of the nurse at any particular time.
There's no such thing as a one-hour quiet time for med pass.
So many things have been plopped in the laps of nursing that they are at risk of constant interruptions, if not by families, then by any and every other department, in or outside the hospital.

And you'd sooner see me wear a Barney costume than a ridiculous "med" sash.

The fundamental problem is being too rushed trying to perform an ever-increasing number of tasks, in the same amount of time, with equipment that was designed by no one who actually uses it, all of which must interface with computers that are slower than a drunken sloth.

Our latest; hand held lab and label printers.
Why bother designing a printed label that incorporates a simple patient scan before drawing a lab when you can create two devices, each of which is new vector for germ transmission, are glitchy, and require 12 steps and essentially-- when working well-- requires 5 times the amount of time to complete.

Not busy enough...don't fret, they'll only be more and more to come until nursing finally learns to say, "No!"

These are examples of how nurses are not taken seriously...sure we have time to be interrupted during med passes...one of the most dangerous tasks of nurses. Ah, who cares if we make a mistake...this way they get to blame us and have even more reasons to accuse us of incompetence.

The fact that money and time was taken to study this is even more insulting.