Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
Table 1: Reported frequency of the ‘regular occurrence’ of difficult
or problematical issues in medication administration (N=27)
Medication administration issue Regularly
occurring
issue
N (%)
Confused patients who do not understand that they 13 (48.1)
need to take medicines
Having to crush or dissolve medicines in order to
administer them (when the patient IS aware of what
you are doing)
Patients refusing to swallow medicines
Patients having difficulty swallowing medicines
Having to administer a large number of medicines to
one patient at the same time
Difficulty in concentrating as distracted by noise or
other patients or staff
Having to crush or dissolve medicines in order to
administer them (when the patient is NOT aware of
what you are doing)
Patients who become aggressive when you attempt to
administer medicines
Time pressures (many tasks to complete in a limited
time)
Problems with the layout of the clinic room or area
where drugs are administered
Having to leave (and lock) the medicines trolley
whilst administering medicines to a patient
Complex prescriptions with frequent dosage changes
Difficulty in reading the prescription as doctor’s
handwriting is not clear
Ambiguous prescriptions – it is not clear what the
prescribing doctor intended
Having to calculate the dosage e.g. when
administering a liquid medicine
Patients who are drowsy or asleep and hard to wake
up to give them their medicines
Communication problems with other staff e.g. the
doctor has said to omit a medicine but has not
written in the notes
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10 (37.0)
10 (37.0)
9 (33.3)
9 (33.3)
8 (29.6)
8 (29.6)
7 (25.9)
7 (25.9)
5 (18.5)
5 (18.5)
4 (14.8)
4 (14.8)
3 (11.1)
2 (7.4)
2 (7.4)
1 (3.7)