Date of Conferral
2018
Degree
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
School
Nursing
Advisor
Francisca Farrar
Abstract
Medication errors during drug administration are an issue in the nursing profession. The errors that occur due to intravenous vein infusions pose threats to patients due to the mode of administration and the risk of occurrence. Strategies such as guardrails have been implemented to reduce the rate of such errors. Despite these guardrails, facilities record mixed results on the effectiveness of infusion pumps in reducing medication errors. The project was designed as a quantitative study to evaluate the effectiveness of guardrails in reducing medication errors at the facility. Data analysis included error reports from the facility before and after the implementation of the guardrails, as well as reports from the software used to monitor the effectiveness of the infusion pumps. Descriptive statistics was used to determine the frequency distribution, percentages, and mean, while t-tests were conducted on the two paired samples. Results showed errors reduced to 7% after the intervention, with a steady decline over the years. The p-value of 0.001 showed that there was a significant difference (α -?¤ 0.05) after the use of guardrails and prior to their usage, indicating that the intervention was effective in reducing the occurrence of medication errors. These findings can be used to promote positive social change at the facility to reduce the occurrence of medication errors during drug administration. The data will be useful to hospital administrators, nursing managers, and nursing staff to encourage compliance in the use of guardrails to help reduce medication errors.
Recommended Citation
Mosley, Teresa, "Effectiveness of Guardrails at Reducing Medication Errors inDrug Administration" (2018). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 5755.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/5755
