What to learn from analysis of medical disputes related to medication errors in nursing care

BACKGROUND: Nurses, who are the last safeguard against and have the final opportunity to prevent medication errors (MEs), play a vital role in patient safety by managing medications. OBJECTIVE: This study described the characteristics of medical dispute cases, medication information, and stage and types of MEs in Korea. METHODS: We performed a descriptive analysis of 27 medical dispute cases related to MEs in nursing care in Korea. RESULTS: Around 77.7% of patients suffered serious harm or died due to MEs in this study. The types of medications included anxiolytics and analgesics, and 51.9% of them were high-alert medications. Among cases of administration errors, failure to patient assessment before and after administration was the most common error followed by administering the wrong dose. CONCLUSION: Nurses should perform their duties to ensure safety and improve the quality of nursing care by monitoring patients after administering medications and should be prepared to take quick action to reduce harm.