The study, published in the Journal of Nursing Scholarship, examined the environment and nurses’ error interception practices at 82 medical-surgical units in 14 New Jersey acute-care hospitals over eight months.
A supportive practice environment has the following features, according to the study:
• Teamwork between physicians and nurses.
• Nurses’ opportunities to participate in hospital- and unit-level decisions.
• Continuity of patient care assignments.
• Continuing education opportunities.
• Retention of nurse administrators who are visible and accessible, who listen to nurses’ concerns and who have high expectations of their nurses.
Researchers found a supportive practice environment was positively associated with nurses’ error interception practices, and these practices were inversely associated with medication error rates.
Interception practices include the following, according to the study:
• Independently comparing the medication administration record and patient record at the beginning of a shift.
• Determining the rationale for each ordered medication.
• Requesting physicians rewrite orders when improper abbreviations are used.
• Ensuring patients and families are knowledgeable about the medication regimen so they can question unexplained variances.
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