The impact of a set of interventions to reduce interruptions and distractions to nurses during medication administration

Abstract

Objective To assess the impact of a set of interventions in reducing the interruption/distraction rate during medication administration. Design and participants Pre-and postintervention observational study of nurses undertaking medication rounds. Setting Acute Medical Admissions Unit (AMAU) of a 1000-bed teaching hospital. Intervention A set of measures previously proven successful in reducing interruptions (behaviour modification and staff education; checklists; visible symbols in the form of a red vest; and signage) were adapted and introduced onto the AMAU. Main outcome measures Rate of interruptions and distractions pre-and postintervention overall and for each individual source of interruption. Results There was a highly significant association (p<0.0001) between the overall interruption/distraction rate and the pre-/postintervention studies, with the rate of interruptions postintervention being 0.43 times that of the preintervention level. When individual sources of interruptions and distractions were compared pre-and postintervention, a significant difference (p<0.05) in the interruption/distraction rate was found for five of the 11 categories assessed. Conclusions The data support a multifactorial approach to reducing the interruption/distraction rate on medication rounds. Suggestions for future research include: directly quantifying the impact of the interventions described in this study on the volume of medication administration errors; assessing the time lost as a result of interruptions and distractions during the medication round; and developing a standardised means of recording and analysing interruptions and distractions to allow meaningful comparison of the benefits of interventions across studies.

Safety Intervention Educational Program to Reduce Medication Administration Errors and Interruptions

“…This study was in line with (Camiré, Moyen and Stefox, 2009) who reported that improved medication safety can be achieved by optimizing the safety of the medication process, eliminating situational risk factors. Furthermore, (Relihan et al, 2010) discovered that patients' education about the importance of medication administration and the meaning of the nurse's red vest important in reducing medication errors and interruption (Relihan et al, 2010).In addition (Mohamed and Gabar, 2010) suggested orientation and training new nurses, maintain adequate number of nurses on each shift, as well as conducting close supervision during medication administration.…”

Interruptions During Pediatric Medication Preparation and Administration

“…Literature Review Most of the studies aiming at determining interruptions during the medication administration have recently been carried out (6). The interruption rates found in these studies which were conducted in different countries were close to one another.…”

Modelling the Interruption on HCI Using BDI Agents with the Fuzzy Perceptions Approach: An Interactive Museum Case Study in Mexico

“…Moreover, we analysed if negative effects of the interruption are avoided if the user's performance increases having a complete and uninterrupted interaction. Comparing our research with other research [46,47] that used avoidance of interruption techniques, none were seen to use fuzzy perceptions and did not consider users' uncertainty, which increases the error degree to avoid interruption.…”