Safety of drug administration from the perspective of hospitalized patients in selected hospitals of the South Bohemia Region

Abstract

Drug administration is one of the riskiest areas of healthcare provision, accompanied by several possible mistakes. Patient and family involvement is crucial for patient safety in a hospital environment. The research study aimed to evaluate the subjective perception of the safety of the drug administration process from hospitalized patients’ point of view and their involvement in drug administration. A structured questionnaire of its own design was used to obtain data. Three hundred twenty-nine respondents from 4 hospitals in the South Bohemian Region in the Czech Republic were included in the research, including patients hospitalized in the internal medicine, surgery, and follow-up and rehabilitation care departments. We found different perceptions and individual understandings of the safety of the drug delivery process by other groups of patients. Interest in participating in drug administration also varies between groups of patients. Women control the medication given to them by the nurse to a much greater extent than men. Patients under the age of 60, patients with higher professional and university education, and patients from the surgical department would like to be more involved in deciding which aplikovadrugs to use. Patients with a low level of education want to involve their family members more in their treatment decisions. Both healthcare professionals and patients should be led by hospital management to increase patient involvement in the hospitalization process.

Nursing in interdisciplinary healthcare

“…Since patient overload in hospital wards is a common problem, interventions to reduce MAES must include dealing with increased patient numbers [36], adjusting competencies, and delegating some activities to other nursing staff [21,37]. This was confirmed by Prokešová et al (2022), who analysed the process of drug administration by nurses in selected South Bohemian hospitals using a SWOT analysis and a SWOT risk analysis. To improve the drug administration process, they recommend, in particular, a transition to a comprehensive system of electronic documentation, linking the hospital pharmacy system with the hospital information system, increasing the number of staff according to the number of patients on a ward or in the hospital, increasing the use of clinical pharmacists in the drug administration process, and sharing experiences between hospitals [38].…”

“…The safety of drug administration processes, from the perspective of hospitalized patients and their involvement in drug administration, has not been investigated in hospitals in the South Bohemian Region in the Czech Republic. The aim of the study by Hajduchová et al (2022) was, therefore, to evaluate the subjective perception of the safety of the drug administration process from the perspective of hospitalized patients and evaluate their involvement in drug administration in the departments of internal, surgical, and follow-up care in four selected hospitals of the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. They found different perceptions and individual understanding regarding the safety of the drug administration process by individual patient groups.…”