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The Reality of Making a Medication Administration Error in Nursing Practice: Nurses Share Their Lived Experiences

The complexity of clinical nursing practice, chaotic and technical nature of the workplace environment coupled with the multiple and varied roles of nurses, leads to cognitive overload that may overwhelm nurses, which may result in medication errors. All medication errors are considered serious events, but some may consequently be harmful to patients and have a lasting effect on the nurses involved in making the error. This study examined what it was like to make a medication error for registered nurses. A descriptive phenomenological study rooted in the philosophical tradition of Husserl [1] was conducted on eight registered nurses via two in-depth face to face interviews. The data generated from a total of sixteen interviews and field notes were analyzed using Colaizzi’s seven-step method. Five theme categories emerged: Immediate Impact: Psychological and Physical Reactions; Multiple Causes within Chaos: Cognitive Dimensions; Embedded Challenges: Healthcare Setting; Organizational Culture: Within the Place/Within the Person; Dynamics of Reflection: Looking Forward. The lived experience of making a medication administration error led nurses to the realization that a profound occurrence had taken place. As a result, these nurses experienced upheavals that were of a physical and emotional nature, which threatened their professional status and generated a sense of low self-esteem that considerably decreased their selfconfidence. An overwhelming amount of workload, a stressful work environment and mistreatment by peers were predominantly noted as the factors that led to these errors. Nurses in this study offered suggestions to improve the system but felt their concerns were often undervalued. Implications for nursing education and nursing practice, to significantly improve teaching strategies of medication administration process leading to improved patient outcomes, were suggested.