Critical Care Nurse’s Practice Regarding Medication Administration Safety in Intensive Care Units at Governmental Hospitals in Gaza Strip

Abstract

Background: Administration of medications is primarily the nurse’s responsibility. This study aimed to assess intensive care nurses’ practice of safe medication administration in governmental hospitals in the Gaza Strip. Methods: This study utilized descriptive, cross-sectional, analytical design. The sample of the study consisted of 116 ICU nurses from five governmental hospitals (Al Shifa Hospital, Indonesy Hospital, Shohada Al Aqsa hospital, European Gaza Hospital, and Nasser Hospital). For data collection, the researcher used Patient Safety Assessment in Medication Administration Questionnaire and Observation Checklist. A pilot study was conducted on 20 nurses, and reliability of the Patient Safety Assessment in the Medication Administration Questionnaire was 0.908. Results: The results showed that 66.4% of study participants were male nurses and 33.6% were female nurses, mean age was 28.97 years, 85.4% have bachelor degree, mean experience was 4.18 years, mean income was 1431.64 New Shekel, and 67.2% are working mixed shifts (morning, evening, and night). The practice of safety medication administration indicated that the highest score was in right route (93.8%), the right time (91.8%), right patient (90.7%), right way (89.5%), right recording of administered medication (88.9%), right answer (86.7%), right guidance (86.5%), right dose (86%), right medication (85.3%), and the overall score was 88.6%. Also, observation of nurses indicated high practice of safe medication administration with an average score of 83.6%. There were statistically insignificant differences in the practice of safe medication administration related to the hospital, gender, qualification, age, experience, and income. Conclusion: The study concluded that intensive care nurses handling medication safely at a moderate level and more. The authors demonstrated the need to provide adequate number of qualified nurses in Intensive Care Units, and encouraged nurses to participate in training programs about safe medication preparation and administration.